Former Secretary General of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Member of Parliament for Lilongwe Mpenu Constituency, Eisenhower Mkaka, has publicly condemned what he describes as “political persecution” of the party’s incumbent Secretary General, Richard Chimwendo Banda.
Mkaka, who is the first senior MCP figure to break the party’s silence on the matter, issued a strongly worded statement via Facebook, criticizing the State’s handling of Banda’s detention. Banda has been held in prison for over three weeks since voluntarily surrendering to police on 12 December 2025.
Mkaka referred to reported remarks by Jivason Kadzipatike, Chimwendo’s lawyer who had allegedly informed the media that Chimwendo Banda “hasn’t been formally charged to date” yet remains in custody.
According to Mkaka, lawyer Gift Kadzipatike revealed that Banda’s bail ruling has been inexplicably withheld, despite a judge’s earlier promise to deliver the ruling by email. Mkaka argued that the prolonged detention without charge and the unexplained delay in bail consideration amount to deliberate torture and a violation of Banda’s constitutional rights.
“The State’s continued detention without charge and withholding of bail ruling without any reason are greatly condemnable,” Mkaka wrote, adding that the situation “injures the presumption of innocence and blatantly violates the victim’s constitutional right to a prompt judicial process.”
Mkaka urged the authorities to either issue the overdue bail ruling or formally charge and produce Chimwendo Banda before a court for plea taking. He said that if there are genuine public-safety concerns they “must be articulated in open court and tested by the judicial process; if there are none, he must be released at once and afforded necessary medical care.” Mkaka also said reports that Chimwendo Banda’s health is deteriorating “amplify the urgency and the seriousness of this rights violation.”
