Mutharika vows to continue as DPP leader till 2023

The octogenarian former President of the Republic Peter Mutharika has insisted he will continue to lead the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) until 2023 when he will hand over the mantle to a new leader.

Addressing his supporters at his 81st birthday party at his private residence in the Lakeshore district of Mangochi on Sunday July 18, 2021, Mutharika parried away suggestions he is clinging onto the party leadership, saying he is staying put only to ensure that the party is in a better shape ahead of the 2025 tripartite elections.

“I am still the party leader until 2023 when you, the members, will choose my successor; make no mistake about that. When that time comes, I urge you to choose a leader with high integrity and good character,” he said.

However, some people believe Mutharika is too old to manage the demanding and challenging job of taking the party back to its previous political glory.

Governance and political experts Sherriff Kaisi and Victor Kayuni Junior have said the most prudent thing for the former President was to hand over leadership to another younger person to propel the party forward.

They argue that politics all over the world has become game of the young and that, while Mutharika may claim not to be clinging onto power, his failure to lead the DPP in retaining power in 2020 is reason enough to pave way for new blood to give the party a new face.

Following the court-sanctioned fresh presidential election held on June 23, 2020, the DPP lost government power to the Tonse Alliance, a grouping of nine (9) political parties.

According to Kayuni Junior and Kaisi that loss of government power in 2020 should have necessitated the need for the DPP to go back to the drawing table and re-strategize in preparation for the 2025 tripartite elections, including electing new office bearers to take the party into the future.

On Friday, the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) announced they would be interviewing the former President on allegations that he may have abused his Taxpayer’s Identification Number (TPIN) when he was in office. He may be put under house arrest, sources say.

ACB Principal Public Relations Officer, Egrita Ndala issued a press statement on Friday, July, 2021, informing Malawians that as part of the on-going investigation process into the allegations of abuse of the former President’s Taxpayer Identification Number (TPIN), the ACB will interview the former President,
from Tuesday July 20, 2021.

“The Bureau would like to let Malawians know that this is a normal and legal process, which started in 2020. The ACB hopes that this will put the record straight on the various stories circulating in the social media surrounding this matter,” she said in the statement.

It is likely this matter may have a lasting impact on Mutharika’s political future.

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