By Durrell Namasani
Former DPP leadership hopeful Dr Dalitso Kabambe has been welcomed in the United Transformation Party . The welcoming event which took place at Masambanjati in Thyolo on Tuesday morning concludes all the speculation that Kabambe who dumped DPP a week ago , was in search of leadership opportunities in UTM .
Kabambe coming in comes at a time when the party is divided after the death of its former leader Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima who died in a plane crash a month ago . Many people believe the succession issues in UTM is no surprise as the party was largely builty on Chilima as a person. To many people , it wasn’t the party that was attractive to them but its flamboyant leasder in SKC. This is why despite Dr Usi accednding to power, a cross section of the pary are refusing to accept him as aleader.
To the desperate members who are not willing to accept Usi as a leader , Kabambe comes in a s new face that can reshape the party .
The reality though is that Kabambe is no SKC- he cannot fill in the shoes of Saulos Klaus Chilima as far as appeal is concerned. Kabambe is a boring politician, whose only hope is his academic prowess but very lacking Politically. In summary he lacks energy, and always thinks he can win people over by bombarding them with statistics and economic jargon that is usually difficult for a common man to understand.
Another issue is in trying to figure out the motive behind Kabambe joining of UTM- two clear things from his move . First a desperate man who lacks patience and got frustrated because his hope of taking over DPP looked impossible as Peter Mutharika is set to lead DPP in the polls. Secondly, an opportunist, who wants to ride on SKC wave, capitalising on sympathy voters to make himself a giant politically. One thing is certain though, DK is no SKC and low energy DK is not the solution that UTM needs
