OPINION: Does DPP have any chance of returning to power in 2025?
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was formed in 2005 by former president late Bingu wa Mutharika after falling out of United Democratic Front (UDF) – a party that sponsored his candidature in the 2004 General Elections.
Mutharika cited high level corruption involving senior government and UDF officials then as the main reason for his resignation from the party.
Despite facing resistance and criticism from his sponsoring party, the fallen Head of State went on to form his own party, DPP, which he launched in February 2005.
DPP first participated in an election in 2009 when it won a resounding second term with 66 percent of the vote in presidential elections.
What endeared Bingu to Malawians is his quest to achieve food security for smallholder farmers through provision of subsidized farm inputs through the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP).
The programme, anchored by good rains, helped smallholder farmers to realize bumper harvests in the subsequent years. Thus, Malawians hailed Bingu was their economic hero and it was not surprising that citizens gave him resounding support in the 2009 elections.
And that was the only presidential election that DPP ever won genuinely. In all the subsequent elections, the former governing party rigged to ensure it stay in power and there is overwhelming evidence to support this.
During the campaign ahead of the 2019 tripartite elections, Vice President Saulos Chilima raised eyebrows of Malawians when he confessed that he helped DPP to rig 2014 Malawi elections and that Nicholas Dausi set MEC warehouse on fire to destroy implicating evidence.
Chilima, then leading his UTM Party in the presidential elections, made the revelations during a series of whistle stop tours he undertook in the Northern Region.
His hair-raising revelations came on the heels of a break in at the Malawi Electoral Commission Regional Offices located in Area 3 in Lilongwe where Chilima said CCTV cameras and other electoral related materials were stolen.
The Vice President said the ruling DPP orchestrated the 30-April break in at MEC offices as part of a scheme to rig the 2019 elections.
Chilima implied that his experience with DPP in rigging the previous elections were conclusive enough to know who was behind the recent break in at the electoral commission.
He then challenged the ruling party to sue him if his claims were unsubstantiated.
“We are not surprised; it is DPP who has stolen cameras at MEC because it is the same DPP who had set fire at MEC warehouse in 2014 led by Nicholas Dausi. If they want to sue me they should do so, we shall meet in court,” Chilima said.
MEC has rubbished Chilima’s claims that things connected to the May 21 elections have been stolen.
“The burglars managed to open a window and cut bars. There were footprints indicating that they entered inside but did not get away with anything noticeable. All tempting items like computers, unmounted television screen, radio and small items were found intact” reads a statement issued by the Electoral Commission to “categorically dispel rumours” that three computers and cameras (CCTV) were stolen.
And you do not need any other evidence that DPP rigged the 2019 elections other than the nullification of the results by the Constitutional Court on February 3, 2020.
This brings us to the question: Does DPP have chances of winning the presidential election in 2025?
The answer is a resounding NO! There are several reasons why DPP cannot win any presidential election in 2025 and the immediate future.
First, we need to appreciate that, expect for the 2009 election, DPP has survived and ridden on rigging elections using any means, including correction fluid (tippex) to manipulate the results in its favour.
The new and incumbent MEC Commissioners will not allow tippex to used in the management of election results. This reduces chances for DPP to manipulate the votes.
Secondly, it is indisputable that DPP as a family and tribal party. Since its inception, the party has proven to be a family and tribal party by ensuring that only Lhomwes hold top positions in it. Attempts by non-Lhomwes to occupy top positions have been systematically curtailed.
Malawians have not yet forgotten how former Speaker of the National Assembly, Henry Chimunthu Banda, was victimized and humiliated when he expressed interest to challenge Bingu’s kid brother, Peter, at the convention ahead of the 2014 tripartite elections.
And the party has also systematically and persistently kept non-Lhomwes away from positions of authority to date.
Under the leadership of former president Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika (APM), DPP directed all its energies and national resources towards developing his region, particularly the Lhomwe belt.
The party went as far as withdrawing development projects in the Northern Region. The withdrawn projects include the Mombera University and Mzuzu International Airport.
DPP Administrative Secretary Francis Mphepo told the nation that Mutharika had withdrawn the projects because northerners were ungrateful [because they refused to vote for him in 2019].
Fourthly, it was under the APM administration that the country saw a crackdown on persons with albinism in Malawi. Persons with albinism were hunted and slaughtered as wild animals for game.
And that is where President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera differs with former President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.
Under President Chakwera, security for persons with albinism has been enhanced. Development projects are being distributed evenly. While Mutharika’s development was only on paper, President Chakwera has overseen the following development projects:
1.Six lane Kenyata drive
2.Six lane mzimba street
3.Mchesi Kawale Chilinde Area 23 road
4.Area 23 Hospital in Chilinde
5.Lilongwe CCAP to Crossroads four lane via kamuzu central
6.Crossroads to Kanengo four lane road
7.Reconstruction of M5 road also known as lakeshore road
8.Ntchisi Malomo road
9.Mwanza Neno road
10.Mangochi town roards
11.Dedza town roards
12.Mzuzu bypass road via Sonda
13.Kaning’ina Zolozolo Nkholongo Dunduzu bypass road
14.Lilongwe bridge to host Crosroads Six miles six lane road
15.Kasungu town roads
16.M1 road from Kanengo to Chiweta
17.Blantyre Chipatala to Kamba market road
18.Michiru to Black Box road
19.Chiwembe to Newlands road via Manje
20.Makhetha to Ndirande via Mkolokoti road
21.Introduction of Israel labour export
22.President Chakwera Going to Parliament to answer questions
23.Rule of law
24.Bypass road in Blantyre underway
25.Introduction of 100 million kwacha Constituency fund
26.Mzuzu civic Centre offices
27.Mzuzu University Mega Library and conference centre
28.Mzimba District Stadium
29.Mzimba District Council office complex
30.Thyolo District Council offices
31.Likoma Port in Likoma
32.Griffin Saenda sports complex
33.Kamuzu Institute Aquatic sports complex
34.Reconstruction of Kamuzu Dam 1
35.Bunda Collenge Offices and lecture theaters
36.Mangoch water supply
37.Nkhatabay water supply
38.2000 decent Security houses
39.Blantyre Police office complex
40.Marka Bungula Railway line
41.Mchinji One stop Boarder
42.Dedza one stop Boarder
43.250 community secondary schools
44.700 health post
45.Reconstructed both Tedzani and Nkula hydro electricity generation stations
46.No black outs in Malawi
47.Brought back donor confidence
48.IMF World Bank now are pumping in Dollars
49.Mega farms across Malawi
50.Construction of Irrigation schemes such as Mzenga in Nkhatabay 900 hectares
51.Shire Valley irrigations
52.Lingoni irrigation scheme in Machinga
53.Mlooka irrigation scheme 156 hectares
54.Matoponi irrigation scheme in Zomba
55.Mafinga irrigation scheme in Chitipa
56.Introduction of civil servants medical scheme
57.Introduction of 100,000 kwacha income tax free band from 45,000 kwacha
58.Construction of cancer centre in Lilongwe
59. Construction of UNIMA massive administration block
60. Construction of KUHeS magnificent administration block in BT
61. Construction of purpose- built laboratory complex at MUST in Thyolo
62. Construction of over 12 000 classrooms in public primary schools
63. Construction of 250 new secondary schools
64. Construction of Skills laboratory and Confucius center at KUHeS in LL
65. Construction of Aquatic Learning Centre at Bunda
66. Construction of new hostels, library, lecture theatres and administration block at Domasi
67. Construction of Chikwawa, Mchinji and Rumphi TTCs
This confirms that President Chakwera is here to change the face if this nation unlike Mutharika was there to change the face of only four districts of Thyolo, Mulanje, Phalombe and Chiradzulu.
This further reduces chances of APM getting any meaningful votes in the Central and Northern Regions.
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