Mary Thom Navicha

Mary Thom Navicha is Malawi’s Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, appointed in October 2025. She held the same ministry in 2019, in Peter Mutharika’s first government.

In 2019 she backed Jane Ansah, then head of the electoral commission, during protests calling for Ansah to resign, praising the women who marched in her support. She has been the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Director of Women and is a member of the cross-party Malawi Parliamentary Women’s Caucus.

In opposition she was one of the DPP’s whips in Parliament. In 2023 she was among the MPs suspended after supporting fellow MP Naomi Kilekwa, who was ordered out during President Chakwera’s address to Parliament. In March 2026, as minister, she visited the Scottish Parliament and the Scotland Malawi Partnership in Edinburgh.

Mary Thom Navicha is the Member of Parliament for Thyolo Thava constituency in Thyolo district, in Malawi’s Southern Region. She sits as a member of the DPP. In the 16 September 2025 general election Navicha won the seat with 32,005 votes (91.2% of valid votes), ahead of Benjamin Kachikho Simion (Independent) with 1,742. 4 candidates stood.