The DPP-led government under Peter Mutharika has shown, in the clearest and most disturbing way, that it did not return to power to govern. It came back to settle political scores. Every move it has made in recent weeks shows a ruling party obsessed with punishing opponents instead of serving Malawians. By using state power to intimidate, humiliate, and arrest innocent citizens for political expediency, this administration has abandoned any moral claim to leadership. What we are witnessing is not governance—it is vengeance dressed up as law enforcement.
The arrest of Vitumbiko Mumba is the clearest example of this. After failing to find a single trace of corruption against him despite rummaging through ministries, combing through departments, digging into campaign finances, and interrogating people left and right, the government finally grabbed onto the most ridiculous charge imaginable. They decided that his simple words—“we got this”—spoken before election results were announced, somehow amounted to inciting violence. It would be funny if it were not so shameless. Every politician expresses confidence during an election. It is normal. It is allowed. It is expected. Yet this government has twisted harmless political speech into a criminal offence simply because they were desperate to nail him on something, anything.
This is not justice. This is political frustration turned into police action. The government wanted to hurt Mumba because all their other attempts failed, and so they grabbed the weakest charge they could find. Arresting him on a Friday so he could spend the weekend in jail was not an accident. It was a tactic. It was cruelty, designed to please the sadists within the DPP who feel powerful when they see their opponents behind bars. It is one of the oldest tricks of authoritarian regimes, and it should shame anyone who claims to believe in democracy.
Then we turn to Richard Chimwendo Banda’s arrest, another masterpiece of political theatre. The idea that Chimwendo—a seasoned politician with influence and a real constituency—would plot to eliminate Frank Chiwanda is ridiculous on its face. Chiwanda, by his own admission, cannot even fund a councillor-level campaign. He is loud, yes, but he is not influential. He is not a threat. He carries no political weight. Yet the state wants Malawians to believe that this supposedly powerful man, Chimwendo, was so terrified of this broke and powerless critic that he orchestrated an abduction. And what is the evidence? Hearsay. Claims that during the alleged ordeal, unknown assailants mentioned Chimwendo’s name. After years of investigation, that is all they could come up with. It is embarrassing.
These arrests are not about law. They are not about safety. They are not about truth. They are about revenge—pure and simple. They are meant to send a message: we are in power now, and we will make you suffer. This is the behaviour of a regime that fears political competition and uses the police as personal enforcers. It is the behaviour of leaders who confuse authority with ownership of the state.
And the threats keep coming. Now names like Moses Kunkuyu are being thrown around, as if the government is keeping a hit list of political targets to humiliate one by one. This should terrify every Malawian, regardless of party. When a government starts using arrests as weapons, nobody is safe—not today, not tomorrow, not when the political winds shift.
Malawi deserves a government that protects its people, not one that torments them. A government that prosecutes real crimes, not one that manufactures them. The DPP under Peter Mutharika is rapidly turning the country into a playground for political revenge. And while these flimsy charges will collapse in court, the damage to our democracy will not fade so easily. We cannot pretend this is normal. It is dangerous, it is abusive, and it must be called out for what it is.
