Someone once said that democracy is a contested terrain, but what we are seeing in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is pure greed disguised as democracy.
DPP is a party where everyone feels entitled to be a leader. Everyone wants to lead and no one wants to be led.
To them, this is a sign of a thriving democracy but from the outside, this is a manifestation of selfishness. It shows that the party is a grouping of people serving their own interests, no wonder even the Jims and and Jacks are fronting themselves to contest for the presidency at the party’s convention in July
This disorder that the DPP has been in since they lost power speaks volumes of why the party has been in chaos, it is simply because no one is in control.
Even those entrusted with leadership cannot keep things under control because no one listens to anyone there.
But to a large extent the chaos is attributed to the weak leadership of Peter Mutharika who does not inspire leadership.
Looking at what has been happening in the tribal Blue party, even when he was the State President his Ministers did not trust his leadership because it did not take long after the DPP was removed from power before Kondwani Nankhumwa broke ranks with Mutharika and started agitating for leadership change.
Speaking in 2021 after attending Bingu’s 9th Memorial service in Thyolo, Kondwani Nankhumwa was quoted as saying that he wants to lead the party in order to reclaim its lost glory. He said the DPP was once a formidable party under Mutharika but it has since lost its mojo due ro Mutharika’s uninspiring leadership.
This is what he said exactly: “I am encouraged to contest at the convention so that I should make the party [DPP] strong again the way it used to under late Professor Peter Mutharika.”
This remark was a direct expression of the vote of no confidence in Mutharika’s leadership.
Now the chaos in the former ruling party has reached fever pitch with Mutharika’s intention to run again in the 2025 presidential election. His intention to bounce back has been greeted with loudest disapproval in the party that even Mutharika’s own boy Charles Mchacha is alleged to have said enough is enough and is ready to hold the Press Conference to oppose Mutharika’s comeback.
The most intriguing thing is that as the main opposition party in the country the DPP is seen as government-in-waiting but the DPP seem unprepared to form the next government.
How can a party, which is failing to run its own affairs, manage to run the affairs of state?
