By Justin Mkweu:
It’s four years away to 2030 when Malawi holds the next general elections but the country’s two major political parties are shaping up for what could be an early struggle for who leads them at the polls then.
The ambitious and the impatient are positioning themselves in the shadows, the discontented are speaking out and the fissures are forming in the two parties – the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
Struggle for the top of DPP
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For the DPP, the future is clear, as indicated by President Peter Mutharika himself.
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As he left for a private trip to South Africa last week, he gave a statement that both cleared the path for those who eye the helm of the party and indicated an apparent rush within to take over from him.
“I will rule for five years up to 2030 and those who cannot wait should wait until 2030 when I will hand over power,” he said.
“And I will hand over power to a DPP person,” he said.
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Then, days later, senior party officials underlined the fissures in the party in the struggle to replace Mutharika.
Secretary General Peter Mukhitho, Southern Region Vice President Joseph Mwanamvekha, and Southern Region Governor Charles Mchacha told the media in Blantyre that some people were trying to divide the party as they are positioning themselves for 2030.
Call in MCP for Chakwera to go
In MCP, its leader, Lazarus Chakwera, has not spoken about his future, but calls have been ringing from within the party for him to not to stay on.
In March this year, a group calling itself MCP Revolution for Change of Leadership told journalists in Lilongwe that Chakwera should step down because he is the reason the party lost power last year.
The group’s chairperson, Samson Chaziya, said Chakwera was not fit to stand again in 2030 if the party is to return to power.
“Malawians voted out Chakwera and the leadership around him. Therefore, he should pave way for someone who can make the party win [in 2030],” Chaziya said.
Another campaign for an early convention to replace the former Malawi president has been led by Alex Major.
According him, an early convention would help the party to prepare better for 2030.
But where does Chakwera himself really stand on this matter? We put this question to Chakwera’s spokesperson Gift Nankhuni.
“That is something to do with the party,” he said. “I am not the right person to answer; ask the party.”
The Republican Constitution allows Chakwera to compete again for the country’s top office but the party’s constitution prevents him from being its presidential candidate again, having represented it in two elections.
MCP spokesperson Jessie Kabwila said the question of who will be on the ballot in 2030 for the party will be addressed at the convention.
“What I can confirm is that the [last] convention gave mandate to Chakwera to lead us up to the next convention and who will lead after that, let us leave it to the convention,” she said.
History of succession battles
The two parties have a history of struggles around leadership succession.
In the DPP, Bingu wa Mutharika, the party’s founding president, fell out with his vice, Joyce Banda, reportedly on succession issues.
Peter Mutharika fell out with Saulos Chilima in 2018 and the latter moved out of DPP to form his own party, UTM, under which he run for presidency in 2019.
Ahead of the elections in 2025, Kondwani Nankhumwa, then one of DPP’s high-ranking officials, waged a campaign to take over from Mutharika, only to be sacked from the party after a disciplinary hearing sanctioned him for convening a National Governing Council meeting that contravened the party’s constitution.
He went on to form his own party under which he ran for presidency last year.
Dalitso Kabambe also quit DPP after noting that Mutharika was going nowhere for the 2025 elections. He joined UTM, took over its presidency and represented it in the elections.
MCP has had its fair share of succession-related wrangles too.
Early on, Gwanda Chakuamba and John Tembo wrestled for power to succeed former Malawi and MCP leader, Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
In the early days after the 2014 elections, some MCP leaders including the then Campaign Director Felix Jumbe, Secretary General Gustave Kaliwo and Kabwila herself campaigned against Chakwera leading the party again in the 2019 elections.
The plan failed after legal battles.
Patience running short
Political analyst Chimwemwe Tsitsi believes that while the case of Joyce Banda was different because Bingu wa Mutharika had exhausted his terms with the 2009 elections, and she should have been accorded chance to lead, the manouvres by the others along the way, in both DPP and MCP, point to a lack of patience to take over power.
“In political parties there is a need for people to follow set out procedures in all aspects especially during succession,” he said.
And another, George Phiri, said these infightings erode people’s trust in the political parties and leaves them limited choices.
“When people are supporting a political party, they have trust in the leadership of that party but when they start fighting, it leaves them disappointed and they may shift from supporting that political party or politician,” he said.
