Infighting in the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) continues taking centre stage ahead of the High Court-sanctioned elective conference, which is expected to take place in the next 17 days.
Barely three days after removing party secretary general (SG) Grezelder Jeffrey from her position and appointing her vice president for the Central Region, DPP president Peter Mutharika has removed Kondwani Nankhumwa and Cecilia Chazama from their respective positions of vice president for the Southern Region and director of women, respectively.
Nankhumwa has been replaced by George Chaponda while Mary Navicha is the party’s new director of women, according to a media release which Mutharika’s spokesperson Shadric Namalomba authenticated.
Namalomba said the appointments are in line with Section 10 of the party’s constitution, which, he said, gives the party president the mandate to make changes to the National Governing Council (NGC).
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Namalomba said Nankhumwa and Chazama have been appointed as advisers to Mutharika, in line with Article 7 of the party’s constitution.
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“Being advisers to the president is an honour. Apart from that, they are still National Governing Council members as ex-officials with voting powers,” Namalomba told The Daily Times.
He described the shifting of people into various positions as healthy for the party, as it is on a rebranding exercise ahead of the 2025 Local Government, Parliamentary and Presidential elections.
“As you are aware, we lost the by-elections in Dedza [Constituency] recently and we are strategising and part of this entails putting people into places where they can best perform for the benefit of the DPP,” he said.
As of Sunday evening, Namalomba said the party was in the process of notifying all people concerned so that they may start working in their new positions.
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On Saturday morning, Mutharika held a Central Executive Committee meeting which, among other things, set Wednesday, December 13, as the day for the party’s (NGC) meeting.
The NGC meeting is expected to pave the way for an elective conference before December 28, as ordered by the court.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey has told The Daily Times that the appointments are “illegal and baseless”, ostensibly because Mutharika does not have powers to remove a person who was elected by the majority at a convention.
She has gone to the High Court, where she is challenging Mutharika’s decision to move her from the position of SG to that of vice president for the Central Region. Jeffrey’s lawyer Cassius Chidothi confirmed the development yesterday.
On Friday, Mutharika appointed Clement Mwale as new SG for the erstwhile governing party, meaning that Jeffrey is no longer the office-bearer.
According to court documents that we have seen, Jeffrey is seeking an injunction against her appointment as vice president for the Central Region as well as Mwale’s appointment as DPP SG.
High Court Judge Howard Pemba is expected to hear the matter tomorrow afternoon in Lilongwe.
“An order of interlocutory injunction restraining the second defendant [Mwale] either by himself, his servants, agents or howsoever otherwise from exercising the powers and functions of the position of secretary general of the Democratic Progressive Party and the first and third defendants [Mutharika and DPP] either by themselves, their agents or howsoever otherwise from stopping the claimant from exercising her powers and functions as secretary general of the Democratic Progressive Party or interfering with such exercise of powers and functions or recognising the second defendant as secretary general of the Democratic Progressive Party or doing anything with the like effect until the determination of this matter or a further order of the court,” Jeffrey’s prayer reads.
Jeffrey’s removal from the position of DPP chief executive officer came barely two days after her and other officials in the party— including Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa, Nicholas Dausi, Mark Botomani, Ken Msonda and others— held what they called the party’s NGC meeting where they set December 15 as the date for the party’s convention.
Briefing reporters in Lilongwe on Friday, Jeffrey described Mutharika’s decision to remove her from the position of SG as laughable.
“It is laughable that I’m being moved to another position when we are remaining with few days to the convention. Who does that?
“I’m also surprised because I was voted for at a convention, not appointed, and I haven’t received the letter yet. I will comfortably comment when I see the letter,” she said.
The DPP has been engaged in the spiral of squabbles in and outside the court since it was ousted from power in 2020.
On September 29 this year, the High Court sitting in Lilongwe ordered the party to hold a convention within 90 days.
