With exactly 12 months to the elections, the palpable uncertainty and deafening silence from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is to say the least unsettling.
The noise from the numerous press releases endorsing President Arthur Peter Mutharika (APM) as the party’s presidential candidate cannot be counted as the DPP’s position on the way forward and a move that could calm the storm that has been brewing for many weeks.
A few press releases or ‘epistle’ from students burping on Chibuku and pockets lined with a meagre 10 K2 000 notes is not the way to address the elephant in the room: The fear and uncertainty in the DPP.
DPP fears the very strong possibility that the Vice President Saulos Chilima camp could be eating away at the alleged massive support that APM has as demonstrated by the numerous press conferences and press releases.
The uncertainty must come from the not so convincing utterances from APM himself that he will contest in 2019. The utterances which seems not to have shaken the SKC camp if DPP director of youth Louis Ngalande’s ongoing courageous revelations are anything to go by.
DPP must definitely fear something if they feel the need to endorse APM when he supposedly has no opposition.
DPP is afraid and the silence from the camp of Vice President Saulos Chilima has the DPP trying to put out fires even where there is no smoke.
The pressure is mounting and APM would be folly to ignore the sentiments that have emanated from the grassroots supporters of the party in the southern region, these are the ones who have the ballot in their hands at the convention.
The party desperately needs a convention to end this and move on to campaign if they are to be taken seriously as a so-called progressive and democratic party.
The longer the DPP puts off the convention, the more support the SKC camp will garners because he has nothing to lose, really.
As the pressure to hold a convention mounts the disorganised and indecisive APM is beginning to lose trust and faith of the grassroot supporters, the voters slowly becoming enamoured with the SKC massive momentum.
It might be too late for APM to put his house in order considering that DPP has not held a National Governing Council (NGC) meeting in the four years since the last convention.
The SKC waiting game is slowly eating away at the APM camp confidence and letters such as that penned by Ngalande just erodes it further.
Indeed the DPP cannot be credited with practising smart politics considering that those who thrive on whispering lies in APM’s ears were responsible for driving the wedge between him and his vice two years ago.
It is the DPP which alienated SKC, through individuals who hoped to replace him or have someone they preferred replace Chilima as running mate.
It is the DPP’s doing that more of its Members of Parliament are openly declaring their support for SKC to represent DPP at the 2019 ballot.
The longer the DPP remains indecisive the more support SKC receives by the day even without publicly declaring his interest to compete against APM.
Chilima is playing a very effective waiting game and APM and the NGC that has never met would do well not to let this go any further if they are so certain APM has no competition.
