The supreme leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Peter Mutharika, was back in the media when he addressed the nation last week. But from his rants, one stops to wonder whether the big man was addressing us or if he was reflecting on his own actions (or lack thereof), and spitting fire at the incumbent and his party. These days, whenever Mutharika comes to the podium, we expect to see an angry man who is failing to move on from his fall in the June 23 2020 presidential election.
Mutharika’s anger comes from his strong conviction that he was robbed of the presidency by President Lazarus Chakwera and his vice Saulos Chilima. And in his latest outbursts, he went further to accuse the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) of playing a big part in his misfortune. In all his conclusions, the wounded lion does not take time to look into the mirror and reflect on what he could have done better. The problem with blaming others is that you would never realise and accept your own weaknesses so that you may improve on them. In fact, failing to assess yourself is one of the gravest weaknesses any human can possess. The unexamined life is not worth living.
Those who are sober may agree with some of the comments that Mutharika made regarding the Chakwera administration. He is right when he says that this government is clueless and that it is failing to give Malawians better lives. Indeed, Malawians are suffering and there seems to be no way out. We are still dying from hunger. Our children are still failing to get quality basic education. Hospitals remain with no drugs and corruption is soaring to even greater heights. The sober agree that this administration is just continuing with what Mutharika’s regime was doing. The only problem is that the DPP leader fails to see this.
The fall of the DPP was not, in any way, out of malice nor was it by accident. That party lost its grip on power because of lack of self-awareness. Because its leadership failed to self-examine, they ended up being arrogant, hubristic, proud, and gluttonous. You may add to the adjectives as you see fit. When committing these sins, the party forgot about the Malawians it was meant to serve.
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The DPP even forgot that in a democratic political system, the power lies with the people. Many are times when politicians forget that their glory is temporary and that they hang on a pedestal, always trying not to fall. But they fell, anyway. That lack of reflection is what cost the DPP.
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Knowing that that happened, what Mutharika and his team would have been doing was to try and atone for their sins. They were supposed to be busy rebuilding the party and reconstructing its image. Today, most people associate the DPP with so many things that went wrong a few years ago, and they needed to wash their dirty laundry.
A good example of a party that managed to rebrand is the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). It used to be known as a party that had blood on its hands due to the atrocities of the one-party era but, overtime, the MCP worked on its image to the extent that it led the alliance that saw the DPP out of power. It was not an easy process, but they managed to do it because they looked within themselves and identified what was wrong.
If they play their cards right, Mutharika and the DPP can come back to power. But it will take a lot of undoing. With what is happening in the party, their chances of winning any election are very slim. Their leadership may not realise it but the party is slowly dying, losing breath by each passing hour.
The fights within are killing it. Lack of strategic and astute leadership is slowly draining blood from its veins. From this perspective, Mutharika’s outbursts are just signs of a man raging against the dying of the light. He does not want to go gentle into that good night. But well, rage, rage against the dying of the light!
