By Cathy Maulidi
There seems to be no end to fights in the erstwhile Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as one faction of the party yesterday proceeded to hold a National Governing Council (NGC) meeting in the absence of members of the other faction.
The disputed NGC meeting was summoned by party secretary general Grezelder Jeffrey, who claimed recently that party leader Peter Mutharika was aware of plans to hold the meeting.
However, at a press briefing this week, some party members led by Eastern Region vice president Bright Msaka refuted Jeffrey’s claims, saying Mutharika had delegated them [Msaka and others] to refute the claims.
And at yesterday’s NGC meeting in Lilongwe, NGC chairperson Mutharika was unsurprisingly not in attendance. Jeffrey, who said she used her powers to order that another chairperson be appointed to serve in the place of Mutharika, was in attendance when delegates to the meeting elected the party’s director of women Cecelia Chazama as chairperson.
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This resulted in Chazama leading discussions.
“I sent a letter to our president, Peter Mutharika, informing him about this meeting; he did not respond. I sent a reminder but there was no other response. So, today, I’m using my powers to ask delegates to this meeting to elect a chairperson, who will act in place of Mutharika.
“We are doing nothing wrong here. This NGC meeting was sanctioned by the court that also ordered the party to hold an elective convention within 90 days. We are just following the court order. It is important to adhere to court orders because if we fail to do that, our party can be made to pay the cost or [the court can] even have the party disbanded. I wouldn’t want that to happen because I love the party,” Jeffrey said.
The meeting later appointed Nicholas Dausi as convention chairperson and Baxter Kita as deputy.
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They are expected to lead an elective convention that the faction plans to hold between December 15 and 16 at one of the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) campuses, namely NRC, in Lilongwe.
However, Chazama said exact dates for the convention would be announced later— once they consult Luanar management on the issue.
The NGC meeting saw 30 members in attendance out of 71 NGC members.
Those that did not attend the meeting include Msaka and vice president for the Northern Region Jappie Mhango.
However, Southern Region vice president Kondwani Nankhumwa and vice president for the Central Region Uladi Mussa availed themselves of the meeting.
Chazama said the number of members present at the meeting was not bad, adding that, as such, resolutions made at the meeting would not be affected.
“We had enough representation to make the resolutions. Our constitution doesn’t specify on the issue of any quorum; so, we were over 34, as four [delegates] participated online and were very active,” she said.
The newly elected convention chairperson [Dausi] said only eligible delegates would be allowed to attend the elective convention this month.
“We will make sure that we elect leaders that are democratically elected, not through the backdoor. Let me call upon all eligible delegates to come to this elective conference. We want the convention to be held in the Central Region because DPP is a national party. We are not afraid of the Southern Region,” Dausi said.
Meanwhile, spokesperson for Mutharika, namely Shadric Namalomba, has disowned resolutions made at the meeting, saying delegates to the meeting were not DPP members but belong to a party that is yet to be formed.
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“To Malawians, I urge you to disregard the resolutions made at that meeting because they are illegal. A proper NGC meeting will be called. The resolutions made are for their own party and not DPP because they want to form their own party with the support of their sponsors,” Namalomba said.
Reacting to the development, political analyst Ernest Thindwa said people should expect the worst from DPP if the party leaders will continue handling things in an undemocratic matter.
“The squabbles are expected to continue and they can only get worse. There is lack of democratic space in DPP and, at the end of the day, we should expect the worst in DPP unless common sense hits their brains. They should learn from Aford [Alliance for Democracy]. It was once a major party in Malawi but no longer carries the same clout. They should also look at the once mighty UDF [United Democratic Front]. They should draw lessons from these parties,” Thindwa said.
The opposition DPP has been engaged in unending battles in and outside courts since it was ousted from power in the June 2020 presidential election.
