Fancy footwork at the political crossroads

The collapse of an impeachment bid against Malawi's president Bingu wa Mutharika has set off a flurry of resignations by opposition parliamentarians distancing themselves from the parties that had sponsored it. Maxwell Milanzi, the United Democratic Front (UDF) MP who introduced the motion in Parliament last year, not only withdrew the bid but has also quit his party to become an independent. "I have decided to withdraw the motion because I have realised it has become very unpopular amongst the majority of Malawians and the donor community," he explained. At least seven MPs have recently either resigned from the UDF or the main opposition Malawi Congress Party, with five of them announcing their intention of joining Mutharika's fledgling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). A group of influential donors also protested the impeachment motion as a diversion at a time when Malawi was facing its worst drought in a decade, and voters punished the opposition in a string of by-elections won by the DPP at the end of 2005. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Henry Phoya said the drive to oust the president, which paralysed parliament for much of last year, was "now technically over". The impeachment attempt was backed by the UDF, smarting over Mutharika's resignation after the party sponsored him as their presidential candidate. Following a power struggle, Mutharika quit in June last year to form the DPP rather than halt an anti-corruption drive that had netted several senior former UDF party colleagues. The UDF also said he had used public funds to launch the DPP, an allegation Mutharika denied. Media reports linked Milanzi's decision to leave the UDF to a court case challenging his right to a parliamentary seat after a separate and earlier conviction on fraud charges. Some commentators suggested the case against him would now be quietly dropped. "I do not think that the withdrawal of the motion and consequence resignation from the UDF by the MP [Milanzi] is a coincidence," political science lecturer Boniface Dulani told IRIN. Milanzi has hit back at his detractors, insisting, "I have not resigned from the UDF because of the court case - it is up to the courts to continue with the matter if they so wish, and as far as I am concerned, the case is still on."