A political commentator in the country has questioned movements of politicians ahead of the 2019 tripartite elections.
Over ten prominent politicians have changed or joined new political parties since the start of the year.
Recently, First Deputy Speaker Parliament Esther Mcheka Chilenje joined the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) which earlier this year also received Felix Jumbe who was expelled from Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
The opposition has also got new members such as Transformation Alliance (TA) Chairperson Moses Kunkuyu and Loveness Gondwe.
Reacting to these movements, political commentator Wonderful Mkhutche said such political movements are showing that Malawi’s politics is made up of calculative and opportunistic politicians.
Mkhutche told Malawi24 that the politicians are moving for their political careers and not necessarily because they believe in the agendas of the parties they are joining.
“In politics not based on ideology and where movements are not explained well by the politicians, it is safe to conclude that these are not genuine movements. It is telling us that politicians are simply doing their politics for 2019 General Elections,” Mkhutche told Malawi24.
The commentator added that as of now some politicians are trying to weigh the political environment before they make such decisions and defections will be the order of the day ahead of the elections.
He also observed that the movements have been characterized by big and experienced names but it is difficult to conclude that they have taken with them votes to the new parties.
Likewise, Chancellor College political scientist Mustafa Hussein said Malawians should not be surprised with these movements adding that they should expect more when the elections approaches.
He noted that the politicians are trying to belong to parties where they feel they can compete with no pressure in the coming elections.
Hussein however advised those changing parties to first reflect what went wrong in their former parties for them to defect and what value they will bring to their new parties.
