Analysts that we have spoken to conclude that this is evidence of clear succession wrangles that have now borne divisions in the party that has governed Malawi for six years.
On arrival from the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London on Sunday, Mutharika found occasion to call for unity in the party he inherited from his brother now rocked in problems.
“We should all unite as one family. We should stop having camps and avoid all things which can divide us. In 2023 we shall have a convention to elect who shall represent DPP in 2024,” said Mutharika.
There is grapevine talk that the DPP has split into camps supporting vice president Herbert Chimulirenji, agriculture minister Kondwani Nankhumwa, justice minister Bright Msaka, former speaker of parliament Henry Chimunthu Banda who is has, for a while, been in hibernation.
But contacted for clarification of what Mutharika meant at Kamuzu International Airport, DPP spokesperson, Nicholas Dausi, told Zodiak Online, the president had been clear enough.
“You want me to speak again what the president has already said? I am not going to do that,” he said.
But DPP Secretary General, Grezelder Jeffery, says Mutharika was only acting “father, but all is fine.
“People always compete for positions. What the president said does not imply that there are divisions in the party. The DPP is still intact,” she said.
Political Analyst Dr. Mustapha Hussein has since warned DPP to immediately check this, as it has potential to disband the party.
He says the succession intra-party fights ought not be a surprise to Malawians as they begun when Mutharika shocked his party with the picking of Everton Chimulirenji as his running mate ahead of the now disputed 21, May 2019 presidential election.
“Any division within the party this time around will be to their disadvantage. Such a development would undermine the strength the party.
“They need unity right now, they need to strengthen. The case (Presidential election petition) may go. If it is in their favor, they need unity if it goes against them they also need more unity within the party so that it forges ahead strongly as a unit,” said Dr. Hussein.
