Mutharika barnstorms Lhomwe belt to garner DPP dwindling support

President Peter Mutharika  is proving that he’s still a political force to be reckoned with as he  goes on whistle stop political  tour in the Lhomwe belt to garner governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) dwindling support in the tea growing areas following the penetration of the DPP members sympathetic to Vice-President Saulos Chilima.

Speaking  the official government podium in Blantyre Rural at the second ground-breaking ceremony for a 19-kilometre (km) stretch of the 62-km Lirangwe-Chingale-Machinga Road, Mutharika said he would talk politics in Thyolo, Mulanje and Phalombe during the whistle stop tour in the three districts.

“I will spit political fire,” he said.

DPP national director of women and Mulanje West legislator Patricia Kaliati addressed  a news conference together with another Maulana South legislator Bon Kalindo at Golden Peacock Hotel in Lilongwe where they branded Mutharika as “a clueless leader” and nominated Chilima as a presidential candidate at the convention.

Mutharika has on more than one occasion declared he will lead DPP in the elections while Chilima has remained silent on calls for him to vie for the presidency.

Former first lady Callista Mutharika—widow of DPP founding president and the incumbent President’s elder brother, Bingu wa Mutharika—sparked the succession debate weeks ago when she said her in-law, 79, should pave the way for the comparatively younger Chilima, 45, widely seen as a hands-on and results-oriented leader as evidenced by the success of the Public Sector Reforms Programme he vibrantly led which has lost steam since it was moved from his office.