In a move that has sent shockwaves through Malawi’s already wobbling opposition, the aging torchbearer of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Arthur Peter Mutharika, has dramatically turned down a two-week campaign tour of the Northern Region—an ambitious plan hatched behind closed doors by his wife, former First Lady Gertrude Mutharika, and his controversial confidant Norman Chisale.
Sources deep inside Page House—the Mutharikas’ lakeside fortress in Mangochi—told Shire Times that the former president, known to many as APM, bluntly told his inner circle he simply wasn’t ready for such a taxing journey. While he didn’t shut the door entirely, hinting he might “consider it in the future,” insiders say the real story is far more alarming: his frail health and ongoing battle with what appears to be cognitive decline are reportedly becoming impossible to ignore.
“They tried everything,” one aide spilled. “Gertrude and Chisale insisted he needed to be seen in the North to counter Chakwera’s powerful recent visit—but APM wouldn’t budge.”
The failed tour is just the latest episode in a string of rejections, with those close to the former president expressing increasing concern over his ability to carry the party’s flag in September’s looming general election. “He wants to campaign—his heart is willing,” whispered another source. “But his body is clearly saying no.”
Behind the curtain, tensions are boiling. Party insiders are reportedly fuming over the way Gertrude and Chisale have taken the reins, organizing campaign events without consulting the DPP’s National Executive Committee (NEC)—a power grab that is ruffling feathers and raising eyebrows in equal measure.
“He’s repeating the same mistake he made in 2020,” one NEC member grumbled, referring to the infamous campaign handover to Atupele Muluzi that ended in electoral disaster. “He’s stuck in Mangochi while the President is out there shaking hands and cutting ribbons. We’re sleepwalking into another defeat.”
Political analysts and religious leaders alike are now calling out Gertrude Mutharika for what they see as a selfish push to thrust her ailing husband back into the limelight—allegedly to protect family interests rather than serve national ones. And then there’s Chisale, Mutharika’s longtime aide and now the DPP’s National Youth Director, who faces a storm of criminal and civil cases. His motives for backing APM’s return have raised suspicions that he’s banking on a future presidency to shield himself from legal fire.
Meanwhile, President Lazarus Chakwera is making calculated moves of his own—and they’re paying off. Just weeks ago, he spent an unprecedented 17 days stationed at Mzuzu State House, taking the Northern Region by storm. From Chitipa to Nkhotakota, he launched major infrastructure projects, consoled flood victims, presided over national ceremonies, and opened new Teacher Training Colleges. It was the most sustained presidential engagement in the region since the iron-fisted Kamuzu Banda—and it did not go unnoticed.
In stark contrast, the DPP’s man of the moment is battling age, illness, and internal mutiny from the safety of his lakeside retreat. With the elections fast approaching, the image of a divided and rudderless opposition could be the very opening President Chakwera needs to tighten his grip on power and consign Mutharika’s political comeback to history’s dustbin.
Will the DPP find its footing before September? Or is the once-mighty party marching, confused and conflicted, toward the twilight of its relevance?
