Reports from Thyolo indicate that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Director of Political Affairs and former cabinet minister Ben Phiri has been mobilising groups of thugs to unleash violence in different spots ahead of President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera’s campaign visit to the district this morning.
According to multiple local sources, Phiri, a former Member of Parliament and aspirant for Thyolo Central is splashing money and providing logistical support to gangs being stationed at Thyolo Boma and Bvumbwe Market, where Chakwera is expected to pass through as part of his whistle-stop rallies.
The thugs have been instructed to stone the President’s convoy, hurl insults at him, and trigger scenes of chaos designed to portray the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and its leader as “unwanted” in DPP’s stronghold district.
Insiders also disclosed that Phiri has been paying locals to boycott Chakwera’s campaign events in an effort to thin out crowds and paint an image of rejection in the Lhomwe belt.
One of Dr. Chakwera’s whistle stops that has shocked Ben Phiri and his pay master Arthur Peter Mutharika
These revelations add to a growing body of evidence that the opposition DPP has been actively preparing for electoral violence as the elections draw closer.
Just last week, reports emerged that the party had established a secret “task force for violence” in the Southern and Eastern regions, bankrolled to intimidate and attack rival candidates.
In one incident, a United Democratic Front (UDF) campaign vehicle ferrying party materials was stoned and set on fire also in Thyolo, with unidentified assailants believed to be linked to DPP, brutally assaulting its driver.
Analysts warn that such orchestrated violence threatens Malawi’s fragile democratic gains.
“The DPP’s resort to terror tactics shows a party running out of ideas and sinking into desperation,” said one political scientist, adding that the strategy is reminiscent of the party’s intimidation campaigns during the 2019 and 2020 elections.
Police in Thyolo confirmed having received reports of some “suspicious activities in the District, and said they are monitoring the situation closely. Civil society groups have raised concerns that security agencies have often been slow or hesitant to act against politically connected perpetrators.
President Dr. Chakwera is expected to hold whistle-stop rallies in Thyolo today, with thousands anticipated to attend despite the reported threats.
The MCP leadership has urged supporters to remain calm, avoid provocation, and allow law enforcement to deal with any attempts at disruption.
With less than a week to the polls, these developments underscore the tense atmosphere in parts of the Southern Region, where the DPP’s shrinking influence is increasingly being defended not through ideas or campaign strategies, but through intimidation and orchestrated violence.
