…and the two silent candidates for UTM
It depends on who you ask—Dr. Dalitso Kabambe is either a great strategist and political tactician or a greedy fellow, power-hungry to be on the ballot come 2025 at all costs. Many who have worked with him as Budget Director or Principal Secretary at Foreign Affairs, Health, and Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi describe him as a knowledgeable and hard-working administrator who can deliver results.
This is politics. Malawi politics.
But one thing Dr. Kabambe has made clear is that he wants the top job—to be the next President of the Republic of Malawi. And if his moves are anything to go by, he wants it very soon. How soon? When the vacancy arises on 16th September 2025, just slightly sixty weeks from now, or simply 417 days.
The party he has left- the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the party he has joined the UTM and the party that doesn’t like him, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) are all involuntarily making his name well known. The DPP are calling him a “traitor”, and the UTM- depending on who you ask, he is a “kingmaker to make parties run (kutamanga) or sold the party and the MCP, as usual tactless, in one sentence, they say is inconsequential, in the next their partisan Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) remembers he has a case he needs to answer in court. This is the DPP that has discontinued cases of politicians aligned with the ruling party.
With such reactions, The Investigator Magazine asked reputed analysts to assess Dr Dalitso Kabambe’s quest for power and whether his political moves would impact the 2025 general elections.
DPP will need to find fresh faces
The DPP has been acting as a party that has already passed the ballot. It has ruled out alliances and most old faces still pop up to hush-hush any new faces emerging from the party. As of today, if the DPP goes to the convention, it will attract very few new faces and maintain the majority of the old gurus.
There is nothing wrong with the old gurus if they worked for the public, but the majority are not popular names, even among their young supporters, and the pushing out of Kondwani Nankhumwa has already started showing scary results. The by-elections at Chilaweni a few days ago showed Nankhumwa’s PDP can attract votes—literally steal votes from the DPP.

Before leaving the DPP, Dr. Kabambe had built a base, some very loyal, that his moving to the UTM would see a few of his loyalists leave the DPP and join the UTM. Most will still feel they are less than many.
But in a 50+1 election, every vote will count, especially when trying to unseat a government. The DPP, not the UTM or any other party, needs every vote.
Many strategists worked out a long time ago that with politics, the game of numbers matters. You don’t want to lose any vote towards elections. The DPP, especially old guards, need to adopt a more conciliatory approach, seeking out ways to show there are bridges between arguments on both sides instead of creating large moats to encircle themselves with.
Real politicians do this because they understand that to win, you have to appeal to as many voters as possible, while still maintaining a sense of who you are and why you’re best placed to solve the problems facing Malawians. It is unwise to do this by branding your enemy a monster because it can entrench views and make people less likely to change their minds. Nankhumwa is a good example.
It also shifts focus in the wrong direction. Defections are less about the party Dr Kabambe has joined- this time, the UTM. This is why he has chosen to leave the DPP. While in Malawi politics, the belly, not ideology, plays a critical role in deciding one’s political loyalty, the calibre of Kabambe, manufactured and built by the DPP, might have come after many months of soul-searching. The answer for the DPP is to look inward and ask why he has left and not take aim at the person jumping ship. Kabambe is gone. Calling him a traitor sounds like a joke. A traitor to what? His ambition to run for the presidency was curtailed; he might just be looking for a safe pad to land—a space to breathe.
At present, looking at the polls, only the DPP and MCP are likely to be part of the next administration—only one of them, whether in coalition or individually. The structure of Malawi politics won’t suddenly see regionalism go away; that might take two generations. At present, there are young minds who have benefitted from DPP and MCP regimes and feel regionalism is the way to go. These might make the next administration and probably the next.
Looking at those vying for positions in the MCP and DPP, regional politics won’t end any time soon, so Dr Kabambe’s quest for power outside the DPP could be a longer journey than originally thought, especially looking at the way UTM is recovering from its founding president demise.
The UTM, which one
The biggest question of the UTM now is not its survival but its identity. The UTM was Saulos Chilima, and Saulos Chilima was the UTM. The late vice president developed a base of personal loyalty more than the party brand.

His cruel death. The negligence by President Lazarus Chakwera and the entire public service machine after the plane was missing and simply failing to institute a Commission of Inquiry is fuelling anger among his ardent loyalists.
The MCP has been making itself complicit in his death- attacking mass prayers and candlelight ceremonies through its poorly thinking media teams to promoting Micheal Usi as the rightful heir of the UTM throne.
The two—loyalty to the late Chilima and Michael Usi—are the new identities of the UTM. Vice President Usi has shown his amateur politics by screaming on top of a vehicle, “I am the President of UTM.” Every time someone who is supposed to be a leader tries to assert his authority in public, it shows something is amiss. He is not in control of the party.
Michael Usi definitely is not in control. As Secretary-General Patricia Kaliati answered him, party orders are not given through the media, and he is carrying “Nthiko,” but the pot is with the party. If a party convention is to be held, Kaliati has the roll of voters; it is very unlikely they would put Usi in the driving seat. The UTM constitution says the executive must elect an acting President when the vacancy arises.
Usi should have attended the first Executive meeting and inserted himself as part of the party process. He failed. Now, the MCP media affiliates are prompting him, making his political identity challenging. You are either a Chilima loyalist or an MCP plant.
Enter Dr. Dalitso Kabambe, the right age, an economist like Chilima but does not have personal loyalty among the UTM followers. He has entered on the side of late SKCs loyalist setting him straight against Dr. Usi. How he navigates to the top is how it will define his political skills.
UTM is not the DPP; it has fiercely independent minds, from no-nonsense Fredokiss Penjani Kalua to personal warriors of late Chilima like Catherine Mzumara and USA-based Abiti Manice. They won’t accept anyone but late Chilima. They will tolerate you as long as you sing Chilima loudly, defend Chilima, and show you do not like anything to do with MCP. Only SKC would tell these, alongside a personal gang that included Khwesi Msusa and Khama Matumbi, to stand down.
Kabambe or DK as he is promoted- will find running the UTM a tough call. He has to sing and dance the late SKC until he is fully in control. He has to battle Usi until he has won. Then he has to fight MCP until they are out of power.
Is he cut for the three political battles- that require, at times, less intelligence, a bit of savagery and, at times, speaking your mind? He could not survive the DPP politics, which mirrors at times like the mafia-like, the UTM politics is an open battlefront. He can learn a few tricks from Fredokiss and Abiti Manice, such as whipping up the public and keeping the party loyal to the late SKC.
If he is seeking gentleman’s politics, the UTM will definitely be hotter, but he can’t return to DPP; they can’t trust him. He now has to win, rebrand the UTM, and become street-smart—that’s what UTM is. SKC left a party of young warriors whose agenda is to make it hot for the dominant parties, or as they say, fake it until you make it.
Can Dr Kabambe—the man in a suit, disciplined administrator, and less experienced politician—fake it until he makes it? Well, time is short until the next elections, but he can use the SKC loyalty to define himself politically and shape the 2025 elections, which will be decided by the late Chilima, yes, from his final home at Nsipe.
DK brand 2025 and beyond
To call DK a traitor is a very funny word. It looks like ancient one-party politics that whoever disagreed with the one mighty party was a “kapilikoni.” This was the easy way to deal with rivals.
Yet the title is cropping up in Malawi politics, especially from desperate politicians who don’t to self-reflection exercise and feel they are right and entitled to every vote without questions.
In 2025, after the Tonse Alliance experiment disaster, every vote will be earned. Blind loyalty might have been blown alongside that ill fated plane at Chikangawa Forest with the last politician to command personal loyalty.
The DPP’s last politician to command personal loyalty was the late Bingu wa Mutharika, and for the MCP was John ZU Tembo, while in the Peoples Party was Joyce Banda, and UDF was Bakili Muluzi. These parties exist because some feel indebted to those leaders.
If he assumes the UTM leadership, DK’s decisions will shape his prospects on the national ballot. He will be dammed at every step- Chilima’s loyalists, many now radicalised by his death, would not want his partner with the MCP at all costs. They feel and strongly believe MCP tortured, persecuted and prosecuted their hero. Some even believe MCP killed Chilima.

If he departs from these radicals, he will find himself without a base, as the other UTM, the move on with the Usi faction would not welcome him.
His nightmare will not end if he decides to drag UTM towards the DPP. The USI camp and some sceptics will say, aha, we told you he is selling the party. He was sent to grab the UTM and sell it back to the DPP.
If he fails to balance in 2025, if he fails to develop personal base by elections, DK light as one of future of Malawi politics will be gone. He will find that there are silent UTM candidates above him, even after he gets the party mantle.
His options and the silent UTM candidates
DK is not yet the kingmaker, not until he can win or assume the UTM presidency. If he plays his cards right, he could be the president himself. But to do that, he needs to remember that he must convince voters who currently don’t support him to change their minds.
It is unthinkable hardcore DPP or MCP loyalists would look at him today and then expect them to put a cross in his box on polling day. He needs the charisma of late Dr. Chilima combined with that of President Dr. Bakili Muluzi, he needs the negotiation skills of President Joyce Banda and convincing narrative of late President Professor Bingu wa Mutharika.
He should look closely at these politicians- they are smart and were good at choosing the teams to work with, to win or sustain power. Until they appointed “chaff” they convinced Malawians they were the best choices.
The question is, who is helping DK make decisions and choices? Does he identify with the people, the voters, or is he playing smart politics? Does he speak the language of the people tired of the same politicians sinking Malawians further into poverty? These are questions only he can answer.
His easiest political option is building an alliance of the frustrated—those who feel MCP has let them down and those who believe that DPP should never be given a chance again. He might garner a few heavyweights from the Peoples Party, UDF, and even Aford to become a youthful coalition that could upset the two major parties—the DPP and the MCP.
Otherwise, silent candidates are hoping to get the late SKCs votes. Professor Peter Mutharika for the DPP and President Lazarus Chakwera for the MCP. Both know that with the SKC votes, the journey to 50 +1 will be possible. It is impossible, as the late Dr Chilima loyalists are geared to turn up and vote in 2025. They are too angry but not like frustrated MCP followers let down by a few greedy individuals or poor performance by their party, nor the DPP followers who think squabbles- are now a permanent feature of the party that would lead them to lose in 2025.
His first test will be to win the UTM leadership race against, apparently, Micheal Usi. If he applies his renowned skills as a brilliant administrator with an eye for detail and results, he could propel himself to the summit of Malawi politics. He needs to stand up from the beginning…
Can real Dalitso Kabambe stand up
The real Dalitso Kabambe will need to emerge from the shadows of both the DPP and even the shadows of the late SKC. He needs to assert what he is and what he believes in. He needs to become a leader to remove the shadows that he is trying hard to be someone else.
He needs to be presidential; he needs to be fearless and speak what he intends to do. He must meet his rivals from Usi to Mutharika and tell them he won’t hide behind Akweni Patricia Kaliati to fight his political battles.

One thing that defined SKC was his “osaopa” philosophy. He said it as it was. From “pumbwa” to “scombingo” he drove the narrative of what was dull politics to become street politics. He took his rivals to the streets. He made politics business unusual. He attracted people who were never interested in politics to become political advocates.
DK language has mainly remained economics, with nothing to excite the generation SKC raised. He needs to stand up and identify himself. He will need to be authentic. He can’t present a fake image like the incumbent leader and do something different behind. It catches up with you quickly.
The USI pretence is backfiring badly- visiting markets and public offices is a very bad strategy when services flashpoints, including passports, jobs and hunger, are not being targeted. Usi can’t visit an Admarc market because he knows there is no maize, he would rather buy cassava. An amateur populism long gone with the UDF.
You can’t buy hungry people, just like DK won’t buy personal affection just by singing the SKC mantra. He needs to stand up and speak about what he represents, what he believes in, and how different he is from the other brilliant talkers—whose sweet accents have brought the worst economic decline in decades.
He must stand up if his quest for power will yield anything.