Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Member of Parliament for Mangochi-Monkey Bay Ralph Jooma has become the latest member from the party to part ways with leader of opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa.
Jooma, who was recently was appointed by Nankhumwa as the spokesperson in the office of leader of opposition, announced the development a short while ago via opposition DPP’s official WhatsApp forum.
The former cabinet Minister during President Peter Mutharika’s era Jooma has since pledged total royalty to party’s leader Mutharika.
He added that he stopped supporting Nankhumwa’s presidential bid the same day Professor Mutharika expressed his interest to run for presidential elections during the much awaited 2024 elections.
“I will support the candidature of our party president Professor Peter Mutharika,” said Jooma, adding that he will remain and will contest as a DPP member during the 2025 parliamentary elections.
Within a space of 48 hours, apart from Jooma, two other senior DPP’s lawmakers namely Yusuf Nthenda and Sameer Suleman dumped Nankhumwa for Mutharika’s camp.
Since its loss in the June 23, 2020 court-sanctioned presidential election, DPP has been caught in infighting that experts have described as not healthy for the party.
The situation has resulted in party divisions.
The bone of contention has been the party’s leadership succession, with Nankhumwa declaring his intention to compete at the party’s convention.
