Malawi’s President and leader of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), Lazarus Chakwera, has been vested with the authority by delegates at the 2024 national convention in Lilongwe to appoint the remaining members of the National Executive Committee (NEC). This mandate comes with a directive to ensure that the appointments reflect the nation’s diversity by considering regional representation, gender, and religion.
The delegation of this responsibility aims to give the party a more inclusive, national outlook. Party strategists have expressed concern that the majority of positions elected on merit so far have been secured by members from the central region, raising alarms about regional imbalance in the party’s leadership. Strategists argue that concentrating influential positions within a single region undermines the party’s national appeal and could alienate voters from other areas.
To address this, Chakwera has been charged with ensuring that the NEC represents all regions of the country. Notably, the southern region has only one significant position, held by Moses Kunkuyu, the Campaign Director. However, Kunkuyu is widely perceived as being from the central region, specifically Dedza, where his family originates, further highlighting the need for balanced regional representation in the party’s leadership.
