By Lyson Sibande
Atupele Muluzi is the biggest disappointment in Malawian politics. Despite his privileged background and countless opportunities, he has failed to achieve anything meaningful. It is unfortunate that some people still consider him a potential running mate for presidential candidates when, in reality, his political career has been defined by a series of failures and wasted opportunities to prove himself.
Atupele was actually born privileged. He was given a political head start, right at birth, unlike any other politician in the history of Malawi.
When he was born in 1978, his father, Bakili Muluzi, was the most powerful politician in the country, second only to Kamuzu Banda at the time owning to him being Secretary General of MCP and Minister without Portfolio at the same time. But divine grace was not yet done with Atupele; by the age of 16, he became the son of a sitting president, a status he enjoyed for a decade until 2004. But that was not all. Heaven still had a few more favors for him. When his father was leaving State House, Atupele simply transferred from State House to Parliament as he became a young parliamentarian for Machinga North East Constituency.
That was not all. Heaven was still watching over young Atupele and had more gifts for him. In 2012, when Joyce Banda became president, she appointed Atupele Minister of Economic Planning because of her friendship with his father. JB even publicly declared in 2013, “Atupele ndi mwana wanga.”
In the same 2012, Atupele became UDF president at age 34 through a manipulated constitutional amendment process at the 2012 Convention that paved the way for him as he didn’t legally qualify to lead the party. But he was the lucky son of Bakili, and everything had to be made possible for him.
Upon taking over his father’s party, Atupele failed to rebuild and make it stronger.
In the May 2014 Presidential Elections, Atupele took his father’s party to the polls under the “Agenda for Change” but lost miserably to both Joyce Banda and Peter Mutharika However, grace was still in Atupele’s favor because the newly elected Peter Mutharika still appointed him into cabinet, where he remained until 2019.
As of the 2019 elections, Atupele had successfully failed to rebuild his father’s party but still went ahead and contested as president after a failed running-mate deal with Mutharika. This time, it got worse for the young dad’s boy. He did not only lose the presidential elections but lost his parliamentary seat as well. He was not only rejected by Malawians at the national level but his own people back in his village as well.
No Malawian politician has ever been given so much favors than Atupele and yet failed so badly. His political rise in the party and appointments have all never been based on merit but lots of favor.
Yet, despite inheriting UDF, he failed to rebuild it. He served as MP for 15 years and minister for seven years but has no legacy to show. He has nothing to show for all that divine grace. Even in 2020, when he joined Mutharika’s campaign, he made no impact. He brought nothing to the alliance with DPP. The figures of DPP remained the same for 2019 and 2020.
That is why I am saying that Atupele is the ultimate example of a political failure in Malawi. No one has ever failed like him. From birth, he has been handed power and privilege and even inherited his father’s oratory skills and voice, but he has achieved nothing with all that grace. Time and again, he has been given chances to prove himself as a leader, and time and again, he has failed.
of course, any party can get into alliance with UDF for the September elections. That is not bad because every vote counts. But Atupele does not qualify for running mate in any party because he has no numbers, and he is a proven failure, regardless.
