Does UDF need atupele?

Former United Democratic Front (UDF) president Atupele Muluzi has kept tongues wagging about his next move since his return from a self-imposed sabbatical from the helm of the party.

Will he reclaim the party presidency he willingly relinquished on May 8 last year or continue to associate like any other ordinary member?

The son of Bakili Muluzi, UDF co-founding leader and ex-president of Malawi, makes no secret about his ambition to contest for the lofty positions once occupied by his father.

The only reason Atupele Muluzi gave for his resignation as UDF president, which paved the way for old-timer Lillian Patel’s ascendency, was to concentrate on doing business. 

“I am going into business for the development and progress of Malawi,” he wrote UDF secretary-general Kandi Padambo after 18 years in the party rungs.

In doing that business, Atupele has been out for a year, only to resurface abruptly.

For months, he has been holding political rallies, making damning remarks about the current government while donning UDF’s traditional yellow garbs.

Not only that. He has also, through various media interviews, made it clear that he will be on the presidential ballot come the September 16 2025 Tripartite Elections.

How will he do that?

Well, he will contest at the convention and, lo and behold, he will win, he says.

These are political realities that will take place.

You don’t need Professor Boniface Dulani and his battalion of political scientists to interpret this.

But does UDF, as it stands now, need Atupele’s leadership?

One first needs to appreciate the political position, both in terms of strength and influence: Where UDF stand currently.

Since its accidental fall from government in 2006 when fallen president Bingu wa Mutharika dumped the party that sponsored his presidential campaign to form Democratic Progressive Party, UDF shows steady signs of decline.

In the last four general elections, UDF stood alone only twice: in 2014 where it got 717 224 votes and in the 2019 poll nullified by the courts due to rampant irregularities.

Even in the presidential election that never was, UDF’s vote count further slumped to a handful 235 164.

Equally shrinking is its representation in the 193-seat Parliament.

It has dropped nearly five-fold from 49 seats in 2004 to 10 in 2019.

As if that is not enough, Atupele lost his Machinga North East constituency to little-known Alhaji Kalitendele, ending his decade-old grip on his stronghold.

Yet again, the 44-year-old politician was back on the losing side as Peter Mutharika’s running mate in June 2020 when Lazarus Chakwera became Africa’s first opposition leader to unseat a reigning president in a court-ordered fresh election.

Debates over factors that brought the party to this unenviable low can be mind-boggling and telling.

There are many theories to explain the slump, but the party has itself to blame and needs self-examination to regain its glory with or without Atupele at the top.

Despite its apparent decline, UDF has survived its worst years that threatened to rip it like old curtains, as its famous co-founder Muluzi  once mocked his contenders in Malawi Congress Party and Alliance for Democracy.

To remain alive and worth decent mentions in political debates, it shows that that not everything is lost for the party pushing to rediscover its path in the wilderness.

Arguably, the party that unseated founding President Hastings Kamuzu Banda a year after Malawi elected the lamp of democracy in the 1993 referendum is still in the hearts and minds of millions in the country.

Its historic role in ending dictatorship is an indelible story that will leave forever.

This is critical realisation UDF need to capitalize on as it rebuilds.

Clearly, UDF still exists, saliently though, in the hearts of millions across the country.

Most Malawians have not forgotten UDF.  They are just ignoring it because they have been seduced by scents of new parties.

UDF is like that unattractive ex-lover. 

It still has structures, a functional organisational culture and, most importantly, an unwavering support base that remains loyal, especially  in the Eastern Region.

As such, all UDF needs now is to become attractive again, secure its loyal base from aggressive encroachers and get on charm offensive.

Weighed against the crop of leaders currently in charge of UDF, Atupele appears better-placed to champion these three things.

Here is why.

First, he is still youthful, modernised, politically clean and connects effectively with various age groups.

The party needs to exploit these attributes in its attempt to make itself attractive and great again.

Second, Atupele is a son of the Yao belt; he connects well with his kinspeople in Machinga, Mangochi and surrounding districts.

This is a potent attribute that his leadership can exploit to protect UDF’s stronghold from encroachment jostling harder for a bite.

Third, from his public appearances and engagements, Atupele represents the generation of modern leaders: approachable, respectful, articulate and diplomatic.

UDF can harness these attributes in its charm offensive to not only bring back those who left, but also attract new members. 

The major challenge, though, with Atupele is that he is always considered ‘dad’s’ child because of his advantage of birth.

He rise followed his famous father’s futile attempts to return to power when Bingu quit UDF “to protect the integrity of the Office of the President” from corruption and interference.

Malawi Electoral Commission disqualified Muluzi’s comeback run in 2009 elections, six years after Parliament shot down a proposed constitutional amendment contrived to extend his presidency beyond the legal maximum of two five-year terms.

Among Muluzis’ critics, there is always talk that Atupele cannot make big decisions on his own, as his father supposedly still calls the shot.

Atupele cannot wish his parentage away.

However, with the years he has been in politics, serving as a Cabinet minister and running international business ventures, it would be foolhardy to underestimate his capacity as a man of his own.

However, the onus is on Atupele to show Malawians that UDF needs him more than he needs it. Failure to show his relevance portrays him as a spoilt crybaby desperate to claim UDF as a piece of his inheritance amid a rising callw for party founders and their off-springs to stop running them like personal or family farms.