By Lyson Sibande
And then, there is Hon. Paul Gadama; another Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) aspirant for the party Presidency.
What I can I say about him? He must proceed and contest at the convention but he will not win because he can’t win.
Before his sympathizers and apologists draw their daggers on me, let me make it clear that I have no personal hatred against Gadama. On the contrary, I have huge respect and love for him.
Understand this; Gadama is the only politician in Malawi who cannot drive past me without having his car stopped to greet me first and have a brief chat.
If we met while we are both driving, we would find the quickest parking spot to greet each other before proceeding on our ways. Gadama is the only politician in Malawi who could call me over the phone and have chats which could some times last over 30minutes.
As a matter of an interesting fact, when I was attacked and got robbed by some thugs last year, and I shared the ordeal on Facebook, apart from Chatinkha Chidzanja Nkhoma, it was only Gadama of all mainstream politicians who called to check on my life and comforted me.
I had found about 10 missed calls from him, before he called again and spoke to me for about 15minutes to encourage me and help me recover from the shock. No politician in Malawian was worried enough about me to call, but Gadama.
Now you can see that Gadama is very good, humble and caring person. I have not a single reason to hate him. He is the kind of a rare breed of politicians that Malawi is missing.
I have no doubt that if I died today, Gadama would be the only politician to attend the funeral. But I need to tell him the truth that he cannot win the DPP presidency at the convention, no matter what. He will lose.
However, I would still encourage him to contest for the DPP presidency because it is very important for his political profile. Gadama is a very smart politician and well connected to traditional powers and elites in the central region.
With a good strategy and competent campaign team, Gadama could emerge as the DPP political heavy weight for the central region after the convention.
My point is that Gadama’s strategy must focus beyond the 2023 DPP convention where he will definitely suffer an embarrassing defeat. But he must positively embrace his imminent defeat and use it as an opportunity to sell himself and create public awareness about his political brand.
So far, Gadama is a non-existing political brand; that’s a fact. To many, Gadama’s shot at the DPP presidency comes as a surprising and blatant display of unchecked ambition.
Nonetheless, DPP needs votes from the Central Region to win elections with or without the 50% plus 1 Electoral system.
As a matter of strategy, DPP must force MCP to retreat back to the center from some areas in the South which it occupied during the 2019 General Elections.
Once MCP is pushed out, DPP must fortify the South and East, and contain MCP within its central stronghold.
Meanwhile, DPP will need to infiltrate and invade some penetrable areas in the Center.
They will have to recruit and empower political heavy weights from the Center who are familiar with the center’s political terrain and grass root politics to split MCP’s votes and swing them to DPP for the 2025 elections.
If Gadama builds himself into a strong political force beyond the convention, this is where he will be found irresistibly appealing for DPP.
DPP will need generals to fight the battle from within the enemy’s territory to conquer MCP and win the 2025 war.
