Political parties reflect on 2023

Some key political parties in the country have entered into the New Year 2024 conceding setbacks with Tonse Alliance main governing partner Malawi Congress Party (MCP) confessing its failure to significantly penetrate rival territory.

On its part, MCP’s counterpart in Tonse Alliance UTM Party has complained about lack of room to push its policies into government agenda.

However, the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) did not respond to our questionnaire for its self-assessment while its partner in the opposition the United Democratic Front (UDF) claimed all was rosy and smooth in the year gone by.

Alliance for Democracy (Aford), in its postmortem of the past year, said the setback was that its members endured a difficult year due to natural disasters and an economic downturn.

The People’s Party did not respond to our questionnaire.

In a response to The Nation questionnaire asking for self-assessment and 2024 targets, MCP spokesperson Ezekiel Ching’oma said among the items on the party’s 2023 agenda was the need to popularise MCP in rival territories.

“The penetration, which we expected to make in what we call dry areas for our party, did go as we wished.

“We would expect that, by now, we have penetrated such areas by 80 percent but I think we are around 60 percent which is not a good percentage,” he said, but could not provide the basis for the assessment when we further inquired.

Ching’oma said the reason behind the failure was the negative perception against the MCP-led government following economic challenges.

“The reasons are that we have met a lot of problems as a party and government. Challenges like natural disasters, disease outbreaks and economic decline,” he said.

The MCP publicist also complained that during the year, there was a wide gap between the party and civil service. He could not specify the nature of the gaps in our follow-up questions.

Hoever, Ching’oma was quick to defend the assertions as not aimed at seeking to politicise the civil service.

He said: “We need synchronisation. Not politicising the civil service but we need to work together.

“The reason is that Capital Hill is the implementer of the manifesto which the party sold to Malawians.  Malawians voted for us because they listened to our manifesto.

“We are in government and we see Capital Hill going the other direction. Most party followers are very disappointed with this.”

Looking forward to 2024, Ching’oma said as part of the ruling alliance, the party will ensure that the government stabilise the economy to win the trust of Malawians ahead of the 2025 elections.

On his part, UTM Party spokesperson Felix Njawala cried foul over the party’s failure to have enough space to execute its party manifesto.

He, however, said the party does not intend to quit the alliance.

“Within the Tonse Alliance, our unwavering commitment lies in vigorously executing our party manifesto. We have diligently worked to curve out our space and cultivate a robust collaboration with our ally, the MCP, to advocate for our policies.

“This relentless pursuit will persist until we have exhausted every effort to advance our agenda,” said Njawala in a response to our questionnaire.

He said in the forthcoming year, UTM’s “primary focus is to ensure Malawians are well-informed about our unique principles and ideologies”.

“Our goal is to engage with citizens through various channels to foster understanding and support for the distinctive values that define our party. We are committed to promoting transparency, inclusivity, and positive change in the next elections,” said Njawala.

On its part, UDF described 2023, a success as the party rolled out its rebuilding exercise with the launch of a strategic plan.

“As we enter 2024, UDF’s main agenda is to prepare itself for 2025 Tripartite Elections.  Firstly, 2024 will see organisation of national convention where the new national executive committee will be ushered in to take the party to elections,” said its publicist Yusuf Mwawa.

Aford secretary general Elias Wakuda Kamanga, in a response to our questionnaire, said: “It was a very difficult year because of the many natural disasters.

“The currency devaluation had a serious impact on our members who could hardly make their ends meet.”

“But looking ahead, consolidation of our party structures at all levels will continue,” he said.