The United Democratic Front (UDF) has been rocked by a fresh wave of departures, after its National Publicity Secretary Dyson Jangiya tendered his resignation from the party with immediate effect – swiftly followed by news that
Jangiya: Quits UDF
former parliamentarian Kennedy Kuntenga has also walked away.
‘I would have no time to attend to party affairs’
In a resignation letter seen by Nyasa Times, Jangiya said he was stepping down from both his role as National Publicity Secretary and his membership of the UDF, citing a need to focus on his personal businesses.
“The reason for my resignation is that I intend to concentrate on my personal businesses and as such would have no time to attend to party affairs,” he wrote.
‘UDF is going in the wrong direction’
But Jangiya’s resignation letter was not the end of the matter.
Speaking separately, he went further, declaring on record that the UDF had failed to regain the trust of Malawians – pointing to the party’s dismal showing in the September 16 2025 General Election, where it secured just four parliamentary seats, down from ten in the 2019 election.
“UDF is going in the wrong direction,” Jangiya said bluntly.
A party in steady decline
His comments lay bare just how far the UDF has fallen since its heyday. The party, under founding leader Bakili Muluzi, swept to power in Malawi’s first multiparty general election in 1994, securing an emphatic 85 parliamentary seats.
That number climbed even higher to 91 seats in the 1999 general election – but it has been a story of steady decline ever since.
The UDF’s seat count collapsed to 49 in the 2004 general election, before falling further to just 17 seats in 2009. By the 2014 tripartite elections, the party had been reduced to 14 seats – and now, more than a decade on, just four.
Thanks for ‘noble position’
Despite his stinging assessment of the party’s trajectory, Jangiya used his resignation letter to pay tribute to the UDF, thanking members for the time they had spent together and singling out the electoral college delegates – from Chitipa to Nsanje, and Nkhotakota to Mchinji – who he said unanimously elected him to the position at the party’s Convention on 3 October 2024, despite him being viewed by some as a novice within the party.
He also thanked the media for what he described as overwhelming support throughout his tenure, saying it was an honour he would “live to cherish.”
Second resignation lands on secretary general’s desk
In a separate development, UDF Secretary General Genarino Lemani has also received a resignation letter from former parliamentarian Kennedy Kuntenga, who represented a Zomba-Malosa constituency in the Eastern Region.
Kuntenga: Quits UDF
Kuntenga reportedly told the party he wished to focus on other, unspecified issues, though he stopped short of indicating whether he intends to step away from politics altogether.
The double resignation – accompanied by a damning public verdict on the party’s direction – is likely to pile further pressure on UDF leadership, as the once-dominant party continues its long slide into political irrelevance.
