Africa-Press – Malawi. It is disappointing to see the political legal battles happening in the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The failing Tonse government is a sore in people’s feet. The electorate have openly expressed disappointment with the current regime and have suggested through various conversations that the DPP could be given another chance to rule.
However, there is only one political solution for the DPP which they must solve in order to stop all this drama. The party convention is the only remaining lasting solution for the DPP so that there is one leader because, from the look of things, bringing the fighting leaders has failed.
The squabbles in the DPP are a huge disappointment just like the Tonse government and the people of this country are put at the crossroads. The leadership has tried it’s best to talk to all the candidates aspiring for the presidency but there is only problem in the DPP. Kondwani Nankhumwa is the biggest problems and all this is centred at him.
Nankhumwa chose to stay away from a DPP- UDF first rally after losing the 2020 fresh presidential election. Everyone else attended except Kondwani. That’s arrogance number one.
Nankhumwa has become a big problem in the DPP all of a sudden. He never used to be like this and his behaviour is very questionable. The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is rumoured to be playing a part in all this and when you look closely at all this, it’s no longer a rumour but very true.
The judiciary is another biggest question. A party cannot survive through court injunctions all the time. It’s very unhealthy for everyone in the opposition DPP. It looks like there is an injunction almost on everything in Malawi starting from politics up to culture. Injunctions are obtained even stopping the installation of local chiefs. Is this law really helping the nation? Who is actually benefitting from such injunctions? Only few individuals of course.
What are the citizens, Judges and lawyers saying on this kind of law? I personally do not see the true benefit of stay orders and injunctions as such.
Injunctions could be just another form of justice abuse, political abuse, leadership abuse, and finally the followers are mentally tortured to this effect. Problem (1) Indeed there are major problems in the DPP.
The first problem is that he is the party President who was legitimately elected at the convention. His term of office is supposed to expire in the next coming convention assuming he had ruled from 2019-2024.
Problem (2) The second problem is that Kondwani Nankhumwa/George Chaponda is/was or was/is the leader of opposition following the two different ways they were elected. Problem (3)
The third problem is that Kondwani Nankhumwa was not the DPP presidential candidate in 2019-2020 elections. Traditionally, leader of opposition comes from a presidential election but that was not the case as the DPP had featured Prof Arthur Peter Mutharika and not Kondwani Nankhumwa.
Prof Arthur Peter Mutharika is still the legitimate party President until 2024 but Kondwani Nankhumwa has chosen not to take any of his decisions for reasons best known to himself, which should not have been the case.
At the same time, Kondwani Nankhumwa feels and behaves like he is party President but he isn’t because he was given the position of leader of opposition on temporary basis. Nankhumwa sometimes makes unilaterally decisions without consulting the party President or leadership in general as was the case in his shadow cabinet. He didn’t and doesn’t play his cards well.
For example, John Tembo was leader of opposition, at the same time he was party President because he had won at the party convention and had represented the MCP in different elections though he kept losing. He was the only leader of opposition and the MCP at the same time but that’s a different case for the DPP today. Things happened very fast and in a confusing manner after the 2020 fresh presidential election. Problem (4) The party leader/president is the most prominent politician of the party and is usually considered to become the head of government.
Prof Arthur Peter Mutharika is currently President of the DPP and should have been the head of government as we speak but things turned the other way round in fresh election that nobody thought would come again in the manner it did. However, a party leader/president may also put forward a different candidate for the elections which the DPP is currently trying to fix but the disagreements and court injunctions continue to be the order of the day.
Vice President Problem (5) The vice president of a company is usually the second or third in command and supports the President by overseeing internal operations and stepping in when the president is unavailable. The vice president has a top-level leadership role in a company and oversees department managers. However, what is happening in the DPP is quite the opposite.
Kondwani Nankhumwa is vice president of the party for the South and the second in command but is supporting someone else not his President. He is bringing total confusion as much as he can through staying away from party caucuses, maintaining internal wrangling and disobeying his own party president openly. Open defiance.
Ruling Party The ruling party or governing party in a democratic parliamentary or presidential system is the political party or coalition holding a majority of elected positions in a parliament, in the case of parliamentary systems, or holding the executive branch, in presidential systems, that administers the affairs of state .
In this case, the ruling party or governing party in our democratic parliamentary or presidential system is the Tonse alliance or coalition holding a majority of elected position in a fresh presidential election in 2020, holding the executive branch, in presidential systems, that administers the affairs of state. The Tonse is in disarray as well as it is heavily smeared with corruption allegations.
Opposition Party In The Parliament Official Opposition designates the political party which has secured the second largest number of seats in either upper or lower houses. To get formal recognition in either upper or lower houses, the concerned party must have at least 10% of the total strength of the house.
But the DPP came into opposition as a result of a controversial presidential election which took place twice in 2019-2020 respectively. Kondwani Nankhumwa took over leadership of opposition when the DPP was still in shock I believe before it could reposition and adjust itself.
The DPP did not know that they didn’t know the danger of having Kondwani Nankhumwa as leader of opposition because he had previously been a cool and nice guy in Parliament.
DPP calmed down as the adjectives used during this seemingly safe appointment were “for the time being, Kondwani Nankhumwa is the leader of opposition.” This was meant to be a temporary measure.
This sounded safe but, alas ! the DPP forgot the strategy was coming from the enemy’s territory. The opponents. Don’t trust a plastic smile on the face of your enemy/opponent because you end up paying a heavy price.
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