By Vincent Gunde
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Deputy Director of Recruitment Hon. Esther Kathumba has tendered her resignation letter to the Party’s Secretary General Richard Chimwendo Banda citing deep- rooted divisions and internal groupings in the party.
Kathumba served as former Member of Parliament for Lilongwe Mapuyu South constituency and is remembered for her words wishing President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera to be President for life just the same as Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
In her letter of resignation dated 22nd October, 2025 Kathumba said the deliberate abandonment of the party’s four pillars of Unity, Loyalty, Obedience and Discipline, has created an ideological vacuum in the mighty MCP.
Kathumba said members of the party no longer stand on the principles that once made them a compelling Movement making genuine recruitment an exercise in hypocrisy saying the party is fractured and the internal groupings have replaced collective purpose.
“The internal groupings have created a toxic environment of disunity that I can no longer represent to potential members” she said.
The former parliamentarian has commended the party leadership for the trust and platform given to her to serve as Deputy Director of Recruitment saying it was an honor to contribute to the party’s growth and to work alongside members who genuinely strive for the party’s success.
A concerned citizen of Malawi residing in Area 51- Lilongwe Mrs. Elizabeth Kaliza Banda, said Kathumba’s resignation is speaking for itself that in the MCP, there is poor leadership, the party is rotten from top to down.
Kaliza has claimed that many MCP members and supporters resigned from the MCP on the 10th June, 2024 when the Vice President Dr. Saulosi Chilima was left alone in the Chikangawa forest after soldiers were ordered to go to their respective houses only to come the following morning to continue with the search operation.
She said there have been conflicting statements on the tragic death of Dr. Chilima and eight others, saying this alone made many MCP members and supporters to withdraw their support from the party on the claims that the MCP is still the party of death.
“Many thought MCP of Dr. Lazarus Chakwera was a renewed party of transformation not knowing that the MCP of Kamuzu Banda was at least better than the Chakwera MCP, “said Kaliza.
