By Edwin Mauluka

Malawi State House has disclosed details of a telephone conversation between President Peter Mutharika and former president Lazarus Chakwera following recent arrests involving senior Malawi Congress Party (MCP) officials and supporters.

According to a statement signed by Presidential Press Secretary Cathy Maulidi, during the January 19, 2026 conversation, Mutharika assured Chakwera that law enforcement agencies are operating independently and on the basis of clear and credible evidence.

“His Excellency emphasized that individuals arrested under the current legal framework will not be left to languish in the system,” said Maulidi. “The government is committed to ensuring that all cases are taken to trial expeditiously, in line with the right to fair and timely justice.”

Maulidi said the President also drew a sharp contrast between the current Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration and Chakwera’s five-year tenure, accusing the former government of presiding over politically motivated arrests of senior DPP officials that yielded few successful convictions.

“The President reaffirmed his resolve to allow law enforcement agencies to carry out their duties without interference, stressing that the era of ‘political arrests’ is over,” she added.

However, Chakwera, through his spokesperson Gift Nankhuni, offered a markedly different account, saying the former president contacted Mutharika to express concern over what he described as “the deterioration of the rule of law and due process.”

In a statement issued Monday, Nankhuni said Chakwera cited the recent arrests of senior MCP officials and former cabinet ministers as evidence of politically motivated law enforcement actions.

“During the discussion, the former President pointed to the deployment of law enforcement officers to target opposition politicians through police searches, intimidation and arrests carried out without regard for established procedures, laws or individual rights,” said Nankhuni.

He cited, among other incidents, an attempted police raid on Chakwera’s private residence, what he described as an unlawful search warrant issued against the Leader of the Opposition, and the arrests of several figures linked to MCP leadership. These include Chakwera’s former aide, a former Secretary to the President, his running mate in last year’s elections, the MCP Secretary General, the party’s spokesperson, and this week’s arrest of the party’s campaign director, who previously served as Minister of Information.

Nankhuni further claimed the arrests were consistent with public statements by political leadership within the Ministry of Homeland Security, which he said had threatened to focus arrests exclusively on MCP officials.

“The arrests are the fulfilment of those threats, targeting MCP leaders, including individuals whose only offence is exercising their freedom of expression,” he added.

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