Mutharika faulted for telling party ‘rebels’ to quit DPP

Malawians have taken up on various social media platforms to criticise President Peter Mutharika’s recent outbursts, telling rebels within the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to leave the party for their opposition to the electoral alliance with the United Democratic Front (UDF).

Mutharika, looking emotional, said recently in Chikwawa that there are some party officials whom he accused of sowing seeds of confusion in the party by objecting to the DPP alliance with UDF.

But some Malawians say the rebels have a valid political point to question the wisdom of having an alliance with a party which is dormant on the ground in the Eastern region, its considered stronghold.

“If the DPP is desperate to have votes from eastern region then UDF is not the ideal partner to bring the votes because the DPP is already strong in the region,” wrote John Amidu on his Facebook page.

Elias Muhara says in a WhatsApp chat group that the DPP vice president for the  [Eastern] region Bright Msaka and his eastern region party team have already made the DPP visible and very strong there.

“If President Mutharika wants to get more votes in the eastern region, let him motivate this Msaka team and give them all the resources, they can do a wonderful job than UDF,” Muhara said.

Some DPP members says UDF performance in recent elections has been dwindling  and wonder if it could give Mutharika a competitive edge during the court-ordered fresh presidential elections that Parliament has slated for May 19 2020 subject to presidential assent.

In the discredited 2019 presidential polls, UDF’s Atupele Muluzi got roughly 4.7 percent of the vote, dropping fourth against a third-rate showing of around 13.7 percent he garnered in 2014.

On his part, Mutharika scooped nearly 38.7 percent of the court-annulled votes against the 36.4 percent he garnered in 2014.

Mutharika got more votes in the easterrn region than ever before in the history of the DPP and this had been attributed to the hard working spirit of government technocrat turned politician, Msaka.

The DPP-UDF alliance could lock votes from the Eastern and Southern political regions as the two groupings complement voter bases in a country that largely votes along regional and ethnic lines.

Critics argue that DPP-UDF is an alliance of two political dynasties—Mutharikas and Muluzis—who have dominated Malawi politics for 23 of the last 25 years of multiparty democracy’s return.

DPP and UDF have a history of working together.

During Mutharika’s first five-year term, DPP went into a working arrangement with UDF to guarantee votes in the National Assembly and support the government’s legislative agenda. In that period, Muluzi held various ministerial positions, including Health and Population the last time he was in Cabinet just before the May 21 2019 elections.