A month after the tragic death of its leader, the UTM is still reeling from heavy turbulence that may spell doom for its future.
One can imagine that it can never be easy for the party to move forward smoothly following the tragedy.
Vice President Saulos Chilima’s death was something that most Malawians never expected to happen.
The shock must be even more arresting for members of his party, since he was the sole figure carrying any hope for political success. As such, one should empathise with UTM.
While we understand the shock that has destabilised the party, it is still necessary to scrutinise some of the decisions that its top brass is making.
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The most recent of those decisions is their announcement that they have severed ties with their partners in the Tonse Alliance administration.
While the Tonse Alliance comprises several parties, the most significant were the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and UTM. This is why UTM’s decision to leave the alliance comes across more like the party cutting ties with MCP.
One would argue that this divorce was anticipated as the two partners have been estranged bedfellows for quite a while now.
For some reason, the leadership of MCP decided to sideline UTM as soon as their president, Lazarus Chakwera, was given the top job.
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There were visible divisions although Chakwera and Chilima tried to play down the souring relationship. In their words, it was people around them who were trying to create a storm in a teacup.
The two leaders tried to sell this narrative, but we have eyes and we could see. Even those in UTM could see that the Tonse regime was more MCP-oriented than any of the other partners.
Of course, some from the other parties were given ministerial positions, but did that make them equal partners?
Putting all this into perspective, one then wonders why the party did not leave the alliance earlier.
Had UTM decided to quit while Chilima was still alive, the implications of that move would have been very different from what may transpire now.
The late vice president was a key figure in the country’s politics, and any direction he would have chosen to go would have reshaped the voting dynamics.
This is not the case now that the party has decided to leave without a leader. Perhaps that is the problem that UTM should resolve first – leadership.
If the party is to have any future, it must identify a leader (or a set of leaders) sober enough to raise their heads above the recent misfortunes.
As we speak now, the grouping seems to be disorganised, and bringing that disorganisation into the public eye is political suicide.
Political leaders can only gain legitimacy and a following if they demonstrate level-headedness and a sense of purpose. Nobody would follow a politician or a party that seems undecided on what they want to do next.
By arguing that they have left the alliance to re-strategise, UTM seems to have launched their boat without knowing the direction in which the water is flowing.
As such, the river can take that boat anywhere, and who wants to sail in such a vessel? The party leadership needed to sit down first behind closed doors and come up with points that would convince their followers that they are going somewhere.
Considering the hastiness of their decision, it is not surprising that some UTM cabinet ministers have publicly said that they are not going to resign from the Tonse administration.
Among other things, this implies that these people do not agree with what some of their friends in the party have agreed on.
One would expect that UTM members who are Cabinet ministers are of some importance in the party and that they should be part of big decisions, but this seems not to be the case. Such visible cracks in their pillars are disastrous.
It will be interesting to see how UTM will navigate these turbulent waters in the future that awaits them. It will be even more interesting to see how members of the party, who are still working with the Tonse Alliance, will negotiate their loyalty.
Above all, one cannot help but wonder as to what is going on in the minds of the more than one million people who rallied behind Chilima in 2019. Are they rocking with the boat or looking elsewhere?
