‘Chakwera’s administration betrayed trust of Malawians and gave new life to the very party we once buried’—economist Dr. Kadyampakeni

* Who would have thought that the DPP would even stand a chance to contest in 2025 after what this nation went through prior to the 2019 elections? Malawians had endured years of corruption, arrogance and abuse of power under the DPP

* The call for change was overwhelming, and when Dr. Chakwera and the Tonse Alliance came into office, hope was reborn. We listened to Dr. Chakwera’s speeches — speeches that lifted our spirits and promised us a new Malawi

By Duncan Mlanjira

Having observed how the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has gained momentum in the September 16 general election, Canada-based economic analyst, Dr. James Kadyampakeni, contends that President Lazarus Chakwera’s administration betrayed the trust of Malawians and gave new life to the very party that was buried.

The DPP’s leader, former President Peter Mutharika, is drawing unprecedented crowds in his whistle-stop campaign tours, which leads many analysts, including Kadyampakeni to believe that this is a hot presidential race as the election day fast approaches.

“Who would have thought that the DPP would even stand a chance to contest in 2025 after what this nation went through prior to the 2019 elections?” mulls Kadyampakeni. “Malawians had endured years of corruption, arrogance and abuse of power under the DPP.

“The call for change was overwhelming, and when Dr. Chakwera and the Tonse Alliance came into office, hope was reborn. We listened to Dr. Chakwera’s speeches — speeches that lifted our spirits and promised us a new Malawi.

“For those of us who stood by him, even supporting him monetarily as diehard MCP cadres, we believed with all our hearts. We saw him as the Messiah this nation had long awaited.

“Personally, I invested not just resources but faith, conviction and loyalty into his leadership — but what did we get in return? Instead of the reforms we were promised, we got recycled failures.

“Instead of accountability, we got selective justice; instead of unity, we got deeper divisions. The very corruption we fought so hard to uproot, resurfaced under new names and new faces.

“That is what went wrong — Chakwera and his administration betrayed the trust of Malawians, and in doing so, gave new life to the very party we once buried. The DPP, which should have been consigned to history, is now repositioning itself for 2025 because Tonse Alliance’s failures revived its chances.

“The painful truth is this; by disappointing the nation so deeply, Chakwera has dragged us back into the same cycle of recycled disappointment versus recycled corruption. And for many of us who once called him our Messiah, the sense of betrayal cuts even deeper.”

Kadyampakeni observes that Chakwera’s pledges as he seeks to be given another mandate are sweet to the ear but the electorate is disillusioned to believe in him because under his administration, they have endured high inflation rate, high cost of living, chronic foreign exchange & fuel shortages, uncontrolled corruption levels — among many socio-economic challenges.

“The DPP is taking advantage of his shortfalls in its campaign rather than what the party would do to revamp the failed economy,” he says. “What he is promising now should have been done in his five-year term, which could have easily campaigned him for a second term.”

Chakwera maintains that during his term, the country faced many economic shocks such as the CoVID-19 pandemic, climate change through the devastating Cyclones Ana and Freddy, cholera outbreak, among others.

But Kadyampakeni joins other political analysts to point out that the MCP-led administration swiftly dealt with those calamities and could have moved forward to address the economy — but corruption of public resources hindered regrowth.

“Corruption is the society’s evil because it denies the citizenry the resources for economic development. Malawians, while struggling in their various business areas, are also paying high taxes which gets stolen instead of translating into economic growth.

“This is what has disillusioned the electorate and this is what the DPP has taken advantage of. The DPP cannot be trusted to turn around the economy because corruption was the very malaise that we voted it out for.

“Sadly, though the DPP’s campaign promises are weak to turn around the economy, the electorate see a saviour in Peter Mutharika because they are tired of false promises and just want to get rid of the MCP,” he said.

Other political analysts are also of the same view, adding that the DPP’s current momentum — alongside the verve from Dalitso Kabambe’s UTM, Michael Usi’s Odya Zake Alibe Mulandu, Atupele Muluzi’s United Democratic Front (UDF) and Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), through the electoral alliance with DPP, will certainly split the votes that will lead to a rerun.

“Malawians are so disillusioned with the incumbent leadership that they are set to vote it out and usher in new hope, which is like ‘better the devil you know than the one you didn’t know but has also become a devil,” said an analyst who declined to be named.

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