Malawi's opposition Republican Party (RP) has sacked Gwanda Chakuamba as national chairman barely a month after his appointment following his dismissal as President Bingu wa Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice president, local media reported on Friday.

A letter signed by several RP top leaders was cited by The Nation newspaper as saying the party's Central Executive Council ( CEC) has decided to remove Chakuamba because his "actions are divisive and far from constructive."

"On the basis of these observations, the CEC at its emergency meeting decided to abrogate forthwith the earlier decision to offer you the honorary positions of national chairman," reads the letter in part.

Chakuamba fell out with Mutharika after he was moved in early August from the Ministry of Agriculture in a mini cabinet reshuffle to the newly created Ministry of Irrigation. The conflict between the two reached a climax when Chakuamba was sacked on September 7. Two days later, he quit DPP to rejoin the RP which he founded and later defected to join the ruling party.

Chakuamba, renowned for changing political color at any opportune time -- having had a dance with several parties back and forth -- this time around made a wrong move which will certainly have far-reaching consequences on his political career.

WHAT'S AHEAD?

So what is Chakuamba's political future like?

"Bleak!" said Institution for Policy Interaction (IPI) executive director Rafique Hajat on Friday.

"It's this kind of political opportunism that is undermining public confidence and credibility that politicians, like Gwanda Chakuamba, have enjoyed," said Hajat in an interview, adding that it's time "these old political dinosaurs left the stage gracefully and paved way for a younger and fresh generation of leaders to take over."

"The public will no longer be duped by politics of convenience, " summed up Hajat.

University of Malawi political scientist Boniface Dulani described Chakuamba's political future as doomed now that he has been fired from the RP.

"You reap what you sow and that is very true of what has happened to Gwanda," said Dulani in an interview on Friday.

Dulani suggested that the only way Chakuamba could forge ahead with his political life is perhaps to rejoin the former ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) which, he said, has room for politicians of his caliber.

"But people will no longer take him seriously," he added.

UDF executive member Harry Thomson, who himself at one time defected to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and rejoined the UDF when NDA president Brown Mpinganjira dissolved the party, said days are gone when people blindly supported Chakuamba in whatever move he made because they have come to realize that at the end of the day they benefit nothing.

"I have talked to people on the ground in both Chikwawa and Nsanje districts (where Chakuamba drew most of his support) and the impression they have given me is that the man's star is going down," said Thomson in another interview on Friday.

"Really it's time we people that assume to be political leaders began thinking seriously about our nation and not ourselves," said Thomson, a veteran politician and one of the founding members of the UDF.

Source: Xinhua