By Rick Dzida
On the political scene, Atupele Muluzi is well known for practising clean politics as there is no evidence of corruption and unwarranted castigation against him contrary his father’s political strategy.
While Bakili Muluzi had been answering a corruption case which was later dropped by Chakwera for reasons best known to himself, Atupele appears to come out clean despite holding crucial political positions such as Parliamentarian and Government Minister in various portfolios including Minister of Economic Development, Minister of Lands and Minister of Health.
Whereas Bakili Muluzi castigated his fellow political contestants such as Justin Malewezi that he was a political weakling because he was under medication of swallowing 32 capsules per day, Atupele stood as a presidential candidate at least in 2014 and 2019 without an overwhelming evidence of demeaning his fellow presidential candidates.
It wasn’t therefore surprising that Peter Mutharika (APM) chose Atupele as his running mate for 2020 fresh presidential elections.
However, what was puzzling is that Atupele was left alone to hustle during that campaign period. Indeed it is true that APM appeared in few occasions as part of campaign endeavour during that time.
It must be appreciated that during a debate debacle, Atupele prophesied that Chakwera would not be able to handle presidency due to his amateurish experience in governance.
Atupele has been proven right now as Malawians are grappling with high incidences of corruption, high inflation rates, and the skyrocketing of prices of basic goods and services
During the same debate interactions, Atupele hinted that he had worked under APM with Saulos Chilima as the Vice President and Saulos did not produce anything tangible.
Indeed after clinching a Tonse Alliance deal with Chakwera, nothing materialised apart from Saulos Chilima himself being gruesomely killed in a mysterious plane crash in Chikangawa.
Interestingly, with such fulfilled prophecies, should we say that Atupele is just power hungry to request the aged APM to withdraw from the presidential race? Or is there a message that Atupele wants to tell Malawians?
In the first place, there is nothing wrong to nurture political ambitions especially for Atupele Muluzi who has been raised and brought up in a controversial political environment.
Furthermore, APM as the bonafide Malawian has the constitutional right to stand as a presidential candidate despite his advanced age. Only voters can decide.
Listening to Atupele Muluzi’s interview which was hosted by Brian Banda, there are pertinent reasons why Atupele reminded Malawians about APM’s old age.
Firstly, it smacks of insecurity when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) insists that both presidential candidate and running mate should come from their party In any possible electoral alliance.
Some political analysts have argued that this stand is a safety measure such that should anything happens to the aged APM, the running mate from within the party can take over.
Secondly, this DPP stand of having presidential candidate and running mate from its party, accentuated by minimal APM’s activity during fresh presidential elections in 2020 prompted Atupele Muluzi to conclude that age is slowly outsmarting him.
Thirdly, DPP’s secrecy on the whereabouts of APM recently raised eyebrows among many Malawians. As a public figure, Malawians are entitled to know the happenstances of their former president. Regardless of age, every human being may fall ill at any time.
Fourthly, having severed ties with DPP, Atupele and APM are at the same footing as presidential contestants. Therefore, Atupele has the privilege to use any tactic that woos more votes.
In a nutshell, Atupele’s utterance that the aged APM must withdraw from the presidential race exudes his frustration that UDF-DPP alliance has crumbled down. It is also indicative of his insecurity towards APM as a presidential candidate.
In conclusion, much as a lot of lessons can be gleaned from Atupele’s statement about APM’s advanced age, all contestants are cordially advised to sell their manifestos rather than castigating personally their fellow candidates.
