LILONGWE — In what critics are calling a bold insult to the intelligence of Malawians, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has once again put forward former President Peter Mutharika as its presidential hopeful for 2025—raising eyebrows and ire across the nation.
Social and political commentator Onjezani Kenani did not mince words in a viral Facebook post, saying what many are whispering: that the DPP has nothing new to offer. “DPP, we’re waiting for your manifesto,” Kenani wrote, before unleashing a flurry of questions that cut like a razor. “Tell us: how will you not steal again? How will your young men not wield panga knives again?”
Kenani’s satire burns with truth. He likens DPP’s comeback to a thief knocking at the same door they looted, asking to be let in again — with the same bag and same footsteps. “You stayed five years without offering any meaningful opposition,” Kenani added. “Now you want us to have you back?”
The irony is as thick as nsima in a village pot. While many Malawians are crying for change, the DPP is handing them the same old dish—reheated and bitter—with 84-year-old Mutharika as the face of it. Not a whiff of new leadership like Bright Msaka or other youthful voices. It’s as if the party is saying, “Take it or leave it,” showing Malawians the political middle finger.
For a country that voted the DPP out for corruption, violence, and arrogance, the return of the same old team feels like déjà vu with a bad smell. The party appears unbothered, unchanged, and unrepentant—like a leopard that refuses to shed its spots.
Now the question hangs in the air like smoke from a burning chitenje: if nothing has changed, why should the people vote differently?
As Kenani summed it up: “Tell us, what has changed? How are you different this time?”
So far, the silence from the DPP is louder than a rally drum.
