UTM has reportedly approached Walter Nyamilandu-Manda, seeking to pair him with Dalitso Kabambe on a potential presidential ticket aimed at challenging the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and President Lazarus Chakwera in the 2025 presidential elections elections.
Nyamilandu is a prominent business and football administrator. He has previously been linked with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as a possible presidential candidate. However, unconfirmed reports suggest that Nyamilandu has become frustrated with senior DPP politicians. DPP officials purportedly offered him the role of Deputy Secretary General.
Sources indicate that seniors officials are keen on barring Nyamilandu as a potential running mate for Peter Mutharika. Mutharika has indicated that he would represent the DPP in 2025. Mutharika’s decision to re-enter the political arena after his retirement in 2020 has prompted some potential torchbearers, such as Kabambe, to reconsider their political affiliations. Kabambe has since joined UTM, and reports suggest that he was recruited as a potential torchbearer.
Renowned social media commentator Julius Mithi, who has previously collaborated with Nyamilandu in football administration, disclosed on social media that the same team that convinced Kabambe to join UTM from DPP has now approached Nyamilandu.
“JFM can comfortably confirm that Mama [Patricia] Kaliati, Punjabi Fredokiss Kalua, Bright Kawaga, the former deputy mayor, and Honourable Felix Njawala have just approached Walter Nyamilandu-Manda to join UTM after he rejected DPP’s offer to stand as Deputy General Secretary,” Mithi posted on Facebook.
UTM is in disarray. This follows the tragic death of UTM president Saulos Chilima who died in a Malawi Army plane crash on 10 June this year. The party has reportedly split into two factions. One faction is led by Patricia Kaliati and her allies, while the other is headed by newly appointed Vice President Michael Usi, who was Chilima’s running mate in the 2019 presidential election, which was later nullified by the Malawi High and Supreme courts. Usi remained Vice President of the party after Chilima was selected by MCP’s Chakwera as a running mate of the Tonse Alliance for the 2020 presidential elections.
UTM is now scrambling for its 2025 torchbearer.
Meanwhile, the Malawi Congress Party has held its convention, where Chakwera was endorsed as the party’s torchbearer for 2025. It is not yet clear who he will choose as his running mate.
Unconfirmed reports suggest he will opt for the Speaker of Parliament, Catherine Gotani Hara, the newly elected Vice President of the party. Others speculate that Chakwera will break with tradition and settle for Vitumbiko Mumba, a close friend of the president’s son, Nick Chakwera.
UTM, DPP, and Nyamilandu have yet to comment on the matter.
The DPP is scheduled to hold its convention next week, starting on 17 August, at COMESA Hall in Blantyre.
