Malawi: MCP Faces Internal Split Over Chakwera Leadership - Faction Attempts to Seal Offices

A group calling itself MCP Veterans attempted to physically seal off the offices of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president and former Head of State Lazarus Chakwera and secretary general Richard Chimwendo Banda on Tuesday, in a dramatic escalation of the internal power struggle now consuming the opposition party.

The audacious move appears to have been a deliberate attempt to trigger a full leadership contest, amid deepening internal divisions that have seen a vocal faction within MCP openly demanding that Chakwera hand over the reins of party leadership.

Chakwera's spokesperson Gift Nankhuni, who also serves as an MCP MP and works as a private practice lawyer, insisted he had no knowledge of any coordinated movement building against the party president.

However, MCP politician Alex Major, who has previously and publicly called for leadership change within the party, confirmed he remained determined to see a party convention convened to resolve the ongoing leadership dispute, expressing confidence he would emerge victorious in any eventual contest.

Despite his own ambitions, Major was quick to distance himself from Tuesday's dramatic office-sealing attempt, dismissing those responsible in strikingly personal terms.

Describing himself as "President in-waiting," Major insisted he was not party to what he branded "trivial matters of people with small brains" who had sought to physically seal the party's offices.

MCP secretary general Chimwendo Banda struck a more conciliatory tone amid the chaos, saying he remained willing to listen to grievances being raised within the party and would work to navigate a resolution to the escalating dispute.

The extraordinary scenes expose the extent of the fracture now running through one of Malawi's most established political parties, coming at a time when MCP - already grappling with life in opposition following its defeat in last September's general election - can ill afford public displays of internal disunity, particularly as rival party DPP simultaneously moves to tighten discipline within its own ranks following recent warnings against "parallel structures" operating outside sanctioned party channels.

Read the original article on Nyasa Times.