It is the current major talking point. Thousands upon thousands of people attended the Demoratic Progressive Party (DPP) political rally at Mgona locality near Area 25 in the Capital City, Lilongwe.
The Guest of Honour at the meeting was the party’s Vice President responsible for the Southern Region who also serves as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Kondwani Nankhumwa.
The rally was a thunderous moment where Nankhumwa put his ‘political stamp’ as a serious contender for the DPP and country’s leadership. He spoke with authority, giving President Lazarus Chakwera 14 days to start fixing the economy and stop the suffering of Malawians “instead of travelling across the country inspecting sunflower gardens”.
Nankhumwa hailed the Church and other faiths for bringing to light the various social injustices that Malawians are suffering under the Chakwera Tonse Alliance administration.
“Indeed, the Church and other faiths have played a crucial role in shaping and improving our social, political and economic status, as a country. The Catholic Bishops and Nkhoma Synod of CCAP recently issued Pastoral Letters. They pointed out the various social injustices Malawians are currently facing under President (Lazarus) Chakwera and the Tonse Alliance Government. I cannot agree more.
“Today, I stand here in solidarity with the Catholic Bishops and the Nkhoma Synod, as well as others such the Public Affairs Committee (PAC), who have fearlessly pointed out the ills of this government and for siding with the suffering Malawians,” he said to a deafening applause.
KN DPP’s hope, future
Held on May 1, 2022, the political rally was also attended by the party’s Secretary General, Gelzeder Jeffrey, several DPP National Governing Council (NGC) members and MPs, including Gertrude Nankhumwa of Blantyre Kabula, Joyce Chitsulo of Mwanza West, Nicholas Daudi, Mwanza Central, Bester Awali, Zomba Central, Dr. Matthews Ngwale, Chiradzulu West, Esther Majaza, Mchinji Northeast, Werani Manasseh Chilenga, Chitipa South, Sameer Suleman, Blantyre City Southeast, Mark Botomani, Zomba Chisi, Julius Mwase, Nkhata-Bay Northwest, Davis Paulos Ng’ambi, Chitipa Wenya, Raymond Chatima Nkhata, Mzimba Central, and Francis Phiso, MP for Blantyre North constituency, among others.
At a time when so many people have been quick to write the DPP’s epitaph; that it has no leadership; that it is dead and buried; and that its future is murky, the Mgona rally is telling a different story and could be a snapshot of the heartbeat of the nation in the current political context.
This rally demonstrated that the DPP is not a forgone conclusion and a yesterday story like what some quarters have made people to believe. The DPP is still a force to be reckoned with and a party to watch in 2025.
Nankhumwa now epitomizes the party’s leadership left, right and centre, He has been the constant figurehead and perhaps the only one who has prevented the party from committing suicide following its electoral loss on June 23, 2020.
Apart from providing exceptional leadership in Parliament as Leader of the Opposition by holding the Tonse Alliance government accountable on its key promises like the Affordable Input Programme (AIP); one million jobs; three meals a day; free electricity and water connections and others, Nankhumwa has displayed great amount of zeal and energy to steer the DPP ship to safer waters.
It is not a secret that Nankhumwa is the only Vice President among the party four vice presidents from all political regions of the party who is investing efforts to ensure that the party remains relevant to the country’s body politic by commenting and providing guidance to government on key national issues such the economy, among others.
On Sunday, Nankhumwa steered away from petty internal shadowboxing and instead instilled hope among followers of the party. He instilled hope in all Malawians that the DPP will take them to the real Canaan and not the Egypt there are in today under the Tonse Alliance government.
Despite facing scary moments like when the party attempted to fire him as Leader of the Opposition and even attempted to remove him as Vice President for the South, Nankhumwa has remained relentless and steadfast to keep the party afloat.
He has been meeting party leaders and the grassroots to strengthen the party and to ensure that its supporters rally around its vision. Everywhere he goes, he tells supporters to respect and support Professor Peter Mutharika as President of the party and also as former President of this country.
The cool and measured demeanour with which he has gone about communicating DPP’s vision to the followers of the party is perhaps one of the leadership traits that have made him the darling of most DPP supporters and preferred among the crop that has so far shown interest to lead the party when APM finally departs the stage.
In as much as there are still challenges and a lot of outstanding issues to surmount in order to bring back the DPP to its former glory, Nankhumwa is consistently proving that DPP may not be orphaned when APM finally retires from the party’s presidency. The political rally at Mgona on Sunday was a huge testimony.
Finally, Nankhumwa said propaganda about him joining the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) or UTM, or indeed forming his own political party is “cheap”. He said that propaganda is at the instigation of a few individuals who fear him ahead of the DPP leadership contest at the party’s national convention. He vowed to remain in the DPP, contest at the convention, and become the next party President.
