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Malawi: Former Leader Mutharika Consulting On Contesting In 2025

April 07, 2023

By Joseph Dumbula [caption id="attachment_105640" align="alignnone" width="1200"] ’I have been receiving calls from local leaders, the clergy, the civil society and so many stakeholders for me to lead this country just yet again because they feel this leadership has no clue about running the country, says Prof Mutharika[/caption] Former Malawi President  Prof Peter Mutharika says he continues to consider calls by a wide range of stakeholders for him to contest in the 2025 presidential poll saying the people want him to fix the mess created by the current Lazarus Chakwera led government. The 82-year-old who lost the presidency in the 2020 fresh presidential elections has said he is at the moment consulting his family, friends and advertisers on whether or not to be in contention as ‘he loves the country a lot.’ Mutharika was declared winner of the 2019 presidential elections but his opponents Chakwera and Saulos Chilima went to court before the results were nullified by the Constitutional Court in 2020 which resulted in the holding of the fresh presidential elections in which Chakwera and Chilima were elected president and vice president respectively. Mutharika has for a long  insisted that the current government colluded with the Judiciary to remove him from government after one year of his second term. Meanwhile, Mutharika who leads the Democratic Progressive Party has a review which could see him back into the ballot paper. ‘’I have been receiving calls from local leaders, the clergy, the civil society and so many stakeholders for me to lead this country just yet again because they feel this leadership has no clue on how to manage the economy given rising corruption, a rise in the cost of living and heightened blame on issues like Covid19, Russia-Ukraine war and disaster. He [Chakwera] was appointed to deal with problems facing people, that is leadership,’’ he said in a in interview with a local channel TTV. His stand has since lead to fresh divisions within the party as some section in the northern region has reportedly thrown weight behind Mutharika’s candidature at the convention. Goodall Gondwe, a renowned economist who  worked under Mutharika’s  from 2014 as Finance Minister told the media that they seek Mutharika again because he initiated “a lot of incomplete projects in the region” and is the “right leader to finalise them”. The said endorsement however comes when about five other people have shown interest to take over the mantle of the party. They include former Reserve Bank of Malawi governor Dalitso Kabambe, Leader of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa, former minister of Finance Joseph Mwanamvekha and Bright Msaka who worked during Mutharika's leadership as Justice Minister. The DPP is an offshoot of the United Democratic Front party.  The UDF was formed by Muluzi and came to power in 1994. After Muluzi's two terms were over, Bingu wa Mutharika (Peter’s brother) succeeded him as head of the party and nation. However, Muluzi remained involved in running the party; therefore, Mutharika formed his own party, the DPP, in early 2005. Many UDF members defected to the DPP which led before Peter Mutharika won in 2014 two years after Bingu died following a heart attack, a timeframe in which Joyce Banda, then vice President now led the nation through her Peoples Party.    

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