Malawi party ownership syndrome causing upheavals, says analyst

A renowned political scientist has attributed the recent problems rocking the country’s major parties to a syndrome which places ownership of political parties to individuals.

Chancellor College political scientist Mustafa Hussein said most parties are bankrolled by individuals who take the political parties as individual estates and makes unilateral decisions.

“In addition, there is too much party intolerance and infighting because it is a hangover from the one party rule where leaders do not give room to dissenting views, although we are in multiparty democracy, they have not shed off this,” he said.

The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Peoples Party are rocked in problems.

The DPP has constructively expelled its Mulanje South MP Bon Kalindo after he staged a nude protest against killings of persons with albinism. The party says he did not seek clearance from the party before the protest.

In MCP, senior party officials Jessie Kabwila and Felix Jumbe were nearly chased away at a rally in Salima addressed by party president Lazarus Chakwera and Peoples Party has formally expelled its Zomba Ntonya MP Patrick Makina accusing him of political double standards.