Engineer Vitumbiko Mumba has launched his fiercest attack yet on the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), declaring the former ruling party cannot return to power while positioning himself for what many observers see as a new political chapter alongside Vice President Jane Ansah.
The founder of the People Over Politics Foundation dismissed criticism from MCP loyalists who have called on him to leave the party, saying he views their attacks as a blessing in disguise.
Speaking during an exclusive interview on Times Television over the weekend, Mumba accused MCP of carrying out a flawed post-mortem of its 2025 election defeat and warned that the party remains disconnected from the frustrations that cost it power.
Far from expressing regret about leaving the governing fold, Mumba painted a grim picture of a party that he believes has failed to understand why Malawians rejected it at the ballot box.
But the remarks also highlighted Mumba’s remarkable political transformation.
During the bitterly contested 2025 elections, Mumba was one of the most vocal defenders of the MCP administration and among the fiercest critics of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
He repeatedly alleged that DPP operatives were involved in fraudulent activities aimed at influencing the outcome of the vote and vowed to stop what he described as attempts by political “thugs” to rig the election.
Mumba became synonymous with the rallying cry “We Got This”, as he reassured supporters that any effort to undermine the democratic process would be thwarted.
Now, barely a year after those bruising political battles, Mumba has shifted his fire squarely onto MCP itself, claiming the party’s record in government was poor and insisting it has no credible pathway back to power.
The political significance of the shift is not lost on observers.
Having effectively distanced himself from both the Chakwera administration and MCP’s future prospects, Mumba appears to be carefully repositioning himself within Malawi’s changing political landscape, with growing speculation that he could play a role in efforts being assembled around Vice President Jane Ansah.
Mumba nevertheless defended his own performance in government, arguing that his short stint as Minister of Trade delivered concrete benefits for ordinary Malawians.
He cited reforms in the sugar sector, claiming he helped dismantle monopolistic practices that had long prevented indigenous Malawians from participating in the trade.
“Imagine, only one person was supplying sugar in the whole Northern Region, hence controlling supply to manipulate prices,” Mumba said.
He revealed that he travelled to the United Kingdom to meet Illovo Sugar executives in a bid to open the market to more distributors.
“I pat myself on the back for opening up many Malawians to engage in sugar trade. And that reduced sugar smuggling and hoarding which led to high and unstable sugar pricing in the country,” he said.
According to Mumba, entrenched cartels and monopolies had stifled competition for years, limiting opportunities for local entrepreneurs and suppressing economic growth.
Beyond politics, the former minister has also been rebuilding his public profile through philanthropy. Through the People Over Politics Foundation, he has been helping financially disadvantaged students access tertiary education by paying tuition fees and supporting their academic ambitions.
Supporters see the initiative as proof of his commitment to grassroots empowerment.
Critics, however, view it as part of a broader strategy to establish an independent political base beyond the structures of any single party.
Either way, Mumba’s message was unmistakable: the man who once rallied supporters with cries of “We Got This” against the DPP is now directing his energies towards dismantling MCP’s claim to future power, while signalling that his own political future may lie elsewhere.
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