Once seen as a bridge to the top, Malawi’s vice presidency has become a graveyard of political ambitions and, in Chilima’s case, of lives.
By Collins Mtika:
The office of the Vice President of Malawi, located on Capital Hill in Lilongwe, should be the second most powerful seat in the country.
Instead, it has become a political graveyard, a place of constant tension where closeness to power breeds distrust rather than succession.
Since the advent of multi-party democracy in 1994, a destructive cycle has defined the relationship between Malawi’s presidents and their deputies: initial alliance, followed by fallout, marginalization, and public humiliation.
This pattern, grimly referred to as the “curse of the vice presidency,” has destabilized successive administrations.
It has now been tragically underscored by the death of Vice President Saulos Chilima in a plane crash in June 2024, an event that raises uncomfortable questions about the very structure of Malawi’s governance.
A legacy of Mistrust: The Birth of the “Curse”
The strained dynamic between president and deputy is a problem unique to Malawi’s democratic era.
The country’s first president-for-life, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, never had a formal vice president, preferring to consolidate power entirely in his own hands.
The 1994 constitution introduced the vice presidency, with both president and vice president elected on a single ticket. This system, intended to ensure continuity, ironically planted the seeds of discord.
The very first pair, President Bakili Muluzi and the late Vice President Justin Malewezi, set the precedent. Their relationship began cordially but soured as Muluzi’s second term neared its end.Former President Bakili Muluzi accused his late Vice President Justin Malewezi of failing to bring development to his home district.
Late Malewezi, a technocrat chosen to complement Muluzi’s business background, was sidelined when he was passed over as successor.
He was publicly accused of failing to bring development to his home district, a politically charged criticism designed to justify Muluzi’s choice to back Bingu wa Mutharika instead.
This early breakdown foreshadowed what was to come.
According to law professor Danwood Chirwa, the constitutional design turns the vice president into more than a deputy, it makes them a potential rival.
“If the president dies, becomes incapacitated, or is impeached, the vice president is constitutionally expected to ascend to the presidency,” Chirwa notes, underscoring the high stakes.
From Sidelining to Treason Charges
The “curse” intensified under Muluzi’s successor, Bingu wa Mutharika. His first vice president, Cassim Chilumpha, faced a stormy tenure.
When Mutharika abandoned the United Democratic Front (UDF) to form the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chilumpha stayed with the UDF.
The split quickly turned into open warfare. Mutharika accused Chilumpha of running a “parallel government” and in 2006 attempted to fire him.
Bingu wa Mutharika accused his then Vice President Cassim Chilumpha of running a “parallel government” and in 2006 attempted to fire him.
The High Court blocked the move, ruling that only Parliament could remove a vice president through impeachment.
The administration escalated its efforts, arresting Chilumpha and charging him with treason, accusing him of plotting to assassinate the president. Chilumpha said the charges were political retaliation for refusing to join the DPP.
Mutharika’s second term brought a new deputy, Joyce Banda, and the same poisonous dynamic. When Mutharika began grooming his brother Peter as his successor, Banda resisted.
In 2010, she was expelled from the DPP.
Bingu’s second term brought a new deputy, Joyce Banda, and … when Mutharika began grooming his brother Peter as his successor, Banda resisted.
Unable to remove her constitutionally, Mutharika ostracised her politically. One ally mocked, “How can a Mandasi (fried cakes) seller become president?”, a jibe at her humble business background.
Fate had the final word.
When Mutharika died suddenly in 2012, Banda, the sidelined deputy, became president, exactly as the constitution required.
The Chilima Factor
The pattern reached its most dramatic and tragic expression in the career of Saulos Chilima, who served as vice president under two different presidents.
A charismatic former private-sector executive, Chilima joined Peter Mutharika’s ticket in 2014, bringing reformist appeal.The partnership initially worked but began to crack by 2016.
Mutharika accused unnamed party members, widely understood to include Chilima, of acting like “Pharisees and Judas Iscariots” while he was abroad. Gradually, Chilima was frozen out.
In 2018, he left the ruling party to form his own, the United Transformation Movement (UTM), and challenged Mutharika in the 2019 elections.
When the courts annulled those elections, Chilima joined forces with Lazarus Chakwera to win the 2020 rerun under the “Tonse Alliance,” promising to end corruption and cronyism.
The “curse” struck again.
Tensions arose over an alleged agreement that Chakwera would serve one term and back Chilima for president in 2025. In June 2022, Chakwera stripped him of his powers.
By November, Chilima was arrested on corruption charges involving a British-Malawian businessman. His supporters claimed the case was politically motivated to derail his presidential ambitions.
In June 2022, Lazarus Chakwera stripped him of his powers when Tensions arose over an alleged agreement that Chakwera would serve one term and back Chilima for president in 2025
In May 2024, prosecutors dropped the case, just one month before his death.On June 10, 2024, Chilima and eight others were killed in a plane crash.
While the official inquiry blamed bad weather and human error, German aviation experts pointed to grave negligence: the aircraft’s airworthiness certificate had expired, and its emergency beacon was non-functional, a flaw that could have delayed rescue efforts.
These revelations have fueled public outrage and conspiracy theories, with many questioning whether the tragedy could have been prevented.
The loss of Chilima, a popular, reform-minded politician, has left a deep void in Malawi’s political landscape.
Breaking the Cycle
The recurring conflict between Malawi’s presidents and their deputies is more than a string of personal feuds; it is a structural flaw that undermines governance, fuels instability, and distracts from the pressing needs of one of the world’s poorest countries.
The current constitutional setup, a jointly elected but independently empowered vice president, creates an inherent rivalry, particularly when succession politics come into play.
Every administration has been scarred by this internal struggle, preventing the country from fully using the talent of its leadership.
Saulos Chilima’s death is the most devastating outcome of this pattern, leaving a dangerous political vacuum. It is also a warning.
Whether through constitutional reform, a shift in political culture, or a clearer vice-presidential mandate, Malawi must transform its second-highest office into a source of stability, not a cursed throne that imperils both its occupants and the nation.
