The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) brewed the potion. Expecting others to drink it. Now, the party is choking on the very poison it served. As the party continues to be alienated and its alliance dreams slowly collapsing due to its own greed, it now faces the fury of a political karma it thought it could escape.
The DPP’s greed, arrogance, and lust for total control of any alliance arrangement ahead of the September elections have not only pushed away potential suitors, but these vices have now seen opposition political parties ganging up and refusing to endorse the party’s backed demonstrations scheduled for Mzuzu.
For years, the DPP has managed to pull the strings. Now, it finds itself tangled in them. Its alliance terms, crafted to use-and-dump fellow political opposition parties are quickly backfiring.
As Malawi moves closer to the crucial September 2025 general elections, the nation finds itself at a crossroads of political realignment, where opposition forces are attempting to forge alliances with the shared aim of dethroning the ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP) which recently has proved to be a force not to be uprooted from State House any time soon.
DPP has been at the centre of this political machination.
However, while the intention of such efforts and a bid to a DPP comeback appear noble on the surface, the reality is proving more treacherous.
The DPP, once seen as the nucleus of opposition power, is increasingly exposing itself as having the intention of not serving Malawians once it is voted back into power, but to continue from where it stopped with looting of public resources and so many other vices that characterized its six years of rule.
Its monopolistic and greedy approach to political negotiations has raised questions. It is apparent that apart from the fear of giving away power to an outside in case of any eventuality, the DPP’s plot is to also ensure that no outsider is privy to their clandestine and corrupt dealings once they have control of the government systems.
But now, this greed is fracturing and bleeding the party to death.
The latest sign of such political fracture has been seen in the response by other opposition political parties to the demonstrations in Mzuzu, reportedly funded and orchestrated by the DPP through the Citizens for Credible Elections, a group led by the embattled and discredited activist Sylvester Namiwa.
Multiple opposition parties, including the United Democratic Front (UDF), Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), Freedom Party (FP), National Development Party (NDP), and the Solidarity Alliance, have distanced themselves from the demonstrations.
They have rejected the DPP’s unilateralism and have raised concerns that such actions are not about defending democracy but about advancing the DPP’s narrow interests.
A History of Political Greed and Manipulation
The DPP’s current behavior is not a new phenomenon. It echoes its shameful history.
Still a reminder. In 2012, senior party figures smuggled the lifeless body of President Bingu wa Mutharika to South Africa under the pseudonym “Daniel Phiri” in a desperate attempt to prevent the then Vice President Joyce Banda from constitutionally assuming the presidency.
That midnight saga, etched in Malawi’s political memory as a betrayal of constitutionalism, continues to haunt the DPP.
Today, that same hunger for absolute power is playing out again.
Despite being surrounded by multiple viable political actors with regional strengths and voter appeal, the DPP insists that any alliance must be led by its 87-year-old leader, Arthur Peter Mutharika, and that both the presidential and running mate slots be filled by DPP members.
The fact that names like businessman, but illiterate Alfred Gangata have been floated as potential running mates, over seasoned and well-educated party leaders from the UDF or AFORD—demonstrates how transactional and reward-oriented the DPP’s strategy has become.
Fellow opposition political parties are now pushing back—strongly.
You can’t blame them. Atupele Muluzi, President of the UDF, has publicly labeled DPP politicians as “selfish and greedy”.
Even the UTM, with Dr. Dalitso Kabambe a DPP sympathizer at the helm is surprised. So far the party is non-committal on whether to support and endorse the Mzuzu demonstrations, likely aware of the danger of being swallowed whole by a DPP that refuses to compromise.
The silence from People’s Party (PP) and its matriarch Joyce Banda also reveals a discomfort.
No one wants to be used. No one wants to replay the Bingu betrayal or risk another political backstab where DPP positions itself as the sole beneficiary of collective opposition efforts.
The planned Mzuzu demonstrations are DPP’s latest strategy to appear active and to undermine the legitimacy of the electoral process. Yet, their unilateral organization and funding by DPP make them appear more as a smokescreen than a genuine civic effort.
The public sees through this. Even voters in the North, historically used as rallying grounds for such activities, are growing weary. Businesses in Mzuzu are preparing for disruptions, not progress.
What is at Stake?
The stakes could not be higher. This election may determine whether Malawi stabilizes its democratic gains or regresses into chaotic political fragmentation. To break the 50% + 1 vote requirement, opposition forces must convince Malawians they are ready to lead together.
But that cannot happen when one party demands everything, Presidency, Vice Presidency, key ministries, before a single vote is cast.
More troubling. The DPP’s current position is informed by fear and not strategy.
Fear that Mutharika, due to his age and frailty, may not finish his term should he be elected, and hence, the party wants the Vice Presidency to remain in-house, avoiding a Joyce Banda redux.
But fear does not make for smart political negotiation. It creates hostility, mistrust, and ultimately collapses what could be a winning coalition.
The DPP must make a strategic decision: Does it want to win, or does it want to control? Because it cannot have both. But we know, for people like Norman “Pythius Hiwa” Chisale and his new comrade-in-arms Alfred Gangata, this is too much to ask. In their warped political intelligence, the two would rather continue pursuing both.
If the DPP continues to act with political gluttony, it will not only lose potential allies but it has to be assured that getting even 20 MPs in the next Parliament will be an impossible task for them.
What if with no presidential candidate on the campaign trail. (A story for the other day.)
What is needed now is a reset, a return to principled opposition politics. The public expects opposition parties to serve as an alternative, and the proverbial government in waiting, not merely a mirror of the ruling party’s shortcomings.
Greed, selfishness, and secret dealings will only further discredit the already weak and frail opposition.
