Mutharika resigns from party, reshuffles cabinet

The resignation of Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika from the United Democratic Front (UDF) party should allow the government to focus on running the country, an analyst told IRIN. Mutharika's ongoing campaign against corruption has drawn criticism from within the UDF, causing a rift between the president and his predecessor, Bakili Muluzi, who remains head of the UDF. Mutharika was handpicked by Muluzi to run for the presidency on the UDF ticket in general elections in May 2004. Political analyst Boniface Dulani told IRIN that despite resigning from the erstwhile ruling party, Mutharika's position as state president should be unaffected. "He can resign from a party and retain the presidency for the remainder of his term, on the basis that he was elected directly by the electorate in a national vote," Dulani explained. Mutharika announced his resignation from the party on Saturday, at a meeting in the capital Lilongwe organised by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and hinted that he would form a new political party. "Over the past five or six months my party has relentlessly turned its back against me. This is because of my stand against corruption," said Mutharika. He also complained that high-ranking officials had been removed from the UDF because of their support for the government's anti-corruption campaign. "There are three factors that have made me move from the party. First, I have no support from within the party. Second, my error or mistakes, or my sins, are that of my fight against corruption," said Mutharika. The third reason, he said, was that an increasingly bitter feud within the party was leading several members to claim that the UDF had rigged the elections to allow Mutharika to win, and news reports had said factions in the party were preparing to oust him. "Of course, the problem for the president now is that he might lose the support of the UDF in parliament. MPs cannot cross over to a different party in parliament, as, under the constitution, if one is elected on a party platform, he cannot go to parliament and then cross the floor. However, the president can form his own party. Because it would not have had representation in parliament, people who defect to it from the UDF would not be deemed to have crossed the floor," Dulani explained. There was a precedent for this, as MPs from the UDF had previously left the party and formed the opposition National Democratic Alliance without losing their seats in parliament. "That's a loophole in the constitution, in a sense, which is something parties have exploited in the past," Dulani noted. He believes Mutharika's split from the UDF could allow him greater freedom to pursue the war against corruption, leaving the government to focus on running the country. "The country been going through upheavals because of the fight between Muluzi and Mutharika ... so this might bring some stability, inasmuch as the presidency will be able to act without having to worry about what's going on in the UDF. The president has always said he wants to battle corruption, but I think he was always hindered by sections within the UDF. Now he does not need to manage internal party conflict, so he can focus his attention on his office and running the government," Dulani pointed out. Mutharika appears to be focusing on gathering support from opposition parties, rather than trying to wrest control of the UDF from Muluzi. The UDF holds only 49 of the 193 seats in Malawi's parliament. The opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP), which has 60 seats in the National Assembly, is the largest of the parties represented in parliament. The Mgwirizano Coalition, a grouping of four smaller opposition parties, announced that they were withdrawing a court challenge to the presidential poll as they "are satisfied with the way Mutharika is running the government, and we want to assist in the implementation of his policies". In a mini-reshuffle of his cabinet at the weekend, Mutharika appointed Republican Party president Gwanda Chakuamba as minister of agriculture and food security. Cabinet ministers that are members of the UDF have pledged their support to Mutharika.