UTM for the highest bidder?

There is never a shortage of politainment in the country, some of which border on the bizarre. What with the next Tripartite Elections only 13 months away and seemingly closing in faster than expected! This week, for example, hogging the limelight have been two Cabinet ministers in President Lazarus Chakwera government splurging a combined K76 million to prospective voters during the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) elective convention slated for August 8 to 10 2024.

Before long, all-time Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential aspirant and former governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi Dalitso Kabambe throwing himself in the fray with a letter announcing his resignation from the party effective July 14 2024.

Then as tongues were wagging about what would happen next following the UTM party’s central executive committee’s declaration on Friday last week that the party will be pushing its national executive committee (NEC) to dump the Tonse Alliance government, Vice-President Michael Usi came with his own talking point—mthiko (stirring stick). He was speaking in one of his first addresses to his party’s supporters since he was appointed Vice-President.

As this page went to press on Thursday, UTM was supposedly preparing for the D-Day when it was expecting its NEC to rubber stamp the central executive committee’s decision to quit the troubled alliance once and for all. But as they say, in politics one day is a century. Between Thursday and today, so much may have happened.

To begin with the two Cabinet ministers Ken Zi k h a l e – N g ’ oma and Simplex Chithyola-Banda violated no law when they dished out a dizzying total of K76.5 million to the party’s North-South region delegates in Mzuzu last weekend. Section 41(1) of the Political Parties Act only regulates national elections. On the other hand, these are party elections. But there are serious questions about accountability over the matter. How much will the two dudes spend by the end of the campaign which is expected to take them to four more MCP political regions of North- North, Central, Eastern and South? More importantly, what businesses do they do to splurge such cash in a day? If one person can spend as much as K200 million for a NEC position in the party, how much more will they spend in the September 2025 Tripartite Elections?

I have always admired Dr. Dalitso Kabambe, first and foremost because he is an intelligent economist. He is also calm and sober but above all else humble. He is also courageous and a good risk-taker. That is why when he joined the DPP presidential race last year against a hoard of other party heavyweights, such as former ministers Bright Msaka and Joseph Mwanamvekha I never rated him as an underdog in the competition. But with former president Peter Mutharika eventually declaring his interest to contest for the party’s presidency at the DPP convention next month, Kabambe, like his fellow aspirants, did the needful. He retreated from the race much out of respect for APM. Still young and energetic, his time would come. Then came the news of his resignation from the party. People have understood the move differently. But the tone of the resignation statement does not show he is anytime soon seeing the back of his involvement with DPP and its leadership. The sentence: ‘‘This decision was not made lightly but after careful introspection and in the best interest of all involved.’’ Who are these ‘all involved?’ The rest of the press statement also shows he is still doing homage to his seniors. His is an agenda that has the full blessings of his seniors in the party. I can only wish him well in his next endeavours.

Usi’s analogy of himself as the mthiko preparing food for the UTM rank and file to eat has earned him both spite from his distractors and praise from supporters. Long short, the bottom-line is that UTM is at a crossroads. It can go either way. It is like a lady searching for a more suitable and appealing suitor than those currently flirting with her. A strong leader whether from within the rank and file or from without can jell the party. Right now, the ball is in Usi’s court to show his political grit and acumen and do the needful. If he fails to do so now someone will come and snatch it away from his hands.n