Mark Twain once said that “history never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme”. Malawians are watching with a sense of déjà vu as, barely four months after taking office, President Peter Mutharika has stripped First Vice-President Jane Ansah of delegated functions. Mutharika’s sudden moves are filling the nation with echoes of history as discordant notes on vice presidential treatments from the past grip the nation’s top echelons in the governance architecture, political arena and the most recent subject: Ansah.
First on January 10 2026, the OPC announced that Ansah was no longer responsible for the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) before another communication dated January 23 2026 stated that the Department of Public Sector Reforms Management had also been relocated from the Office of the First VP to the OPC. Breaking her silence on the issue on Saturday during the installation of a new chief for her Nyaka Jobe Village in Traditional Authority Kalumbu in Lilongwe, Ansah, a retired Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal judge, said her functions are delegated, as such; she could not question the President. “I cannot question why the President Prof.
Arthur Peter Mutharika has removed two departments from my office to the Office of the President and Cabinet because I enjoy delegated powers,” she said. Section 79 of the Constitution provides that “there shall be a First Vice-President and, subject to Section 80(5), a Second Vice-President both of whom shall assist the President and who shall exercise the powers and perform the functions conferred on the First Vice-president or the Second Vice-President, as the case may be, by this Constitution or by any Act of Parliament and by the President”. In an interview yesterday, Office of the First VP spokesperson Richard Mveriwa said Ansah was still reporting for duties and attending to other engagements despite the withdrawal of her responsibilities.
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“We expect that there will be new delegated roles,” he said. OPC director of communications Focus Maganga, in a written response yesterday, said Ansah’s primary role is to serve as Vice-President to Mutharika alongside Second VP Enoch Kamzingeni Chihana. He said the President will continue to exercise his constitutional discretion in delegating responsibilities as he deems fit and that this should not be misconstrued as an indication of “tension” or a bad working relationship with Ansah. From time to time, the President may, at his discretion, reassign or adjust responsibilities to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
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