DPP leader Peter Mutharika yesterday made a bold revelation telling Malawians that his party will win next year’s elections with a resounding 57.9 percent—to mean there won’t be any rerun as many commentators have feared.
Mutharika, in an exclusive interview with Brian Banda on Times Television Saturday night, said the 57.9 percent projection is from a study done by a credible institution—which he could not mention its name—and he is confident that the findings will reflect themselves in next years’ polls.
Strangely, the only time DPP achieved that high was when its first leader Bingu Wa Mutharika pooled a landslide win in 2009 with 66.1 percent. However, since then, the party has never achieved a percentage over 40 percent: 36.4% in 2014, 38.5 in 2019 and 39.9 in 2020.
Asked why DPP can pull such a miracle against the years of political downturn, Mutharika alluded to the party’s record and also the failure of the current Tonse Alliance administration.
Said Mutharika: “We have a good track record of managing the economy. People trust us and they want proven leadership. Besides, the current administration is in self-destructive mode. There is oppression, violence, hunger and widespread poverty. Malawians want us.”
Mutharika also addressed the issue of his age saying those expressing concern are not members of DPP but ‘those ones’ because they are afraid of his candidacy.
“I will do campaign and I am physically fit. I have no intention of embarrassing myself if I can’t run. I would have not allowed myself to proceed if I wasn’t fine. I have spoken at length with my family over this and we have a consensus and they are supporting me,” he said.
The DPP leader further expressed surprise as to why many people are concerned that he didn’t close the Convention but delegated it to the chairperson.
“There was an emergency matter that I needed to handle. So I delegated the closing of the convention to the chairperson who is an able person. What is the problem with that?” wondered Mutharika while refusing to disclose what the emergency was.
He added that he doesn’t owe anyone an explanation on why he wasn’t available at the closure of the convention because those expressing concern are not members of DPP.
“Is there a law in Malawi that says one who opens a convention should also be the one who closes it? That’s a trivia issue,” he said.
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