About 44 Democratic Progressive Party members of Parliament (MPs) have vowed to oppose any aspirant who will dare challenge party leader Peter Mutharika at the party’s elective convention set for July next year.
The development comes barely four days after DPP legislator Mark Botomani accused fellow legislator Chipiliro Mpinganjira, in Hot Current program on Times Television on Sunday, of organising a meeting of Mutharika sympathisers, a meeting which was eventually held yesterday.
And, while confirming the development in the programme, Mpinganjira said all legislators were at liberty to attend the meeting.
Mpinganjira further indicated that they wanted to relay a message that party supporters want Mutharika to contest in the 2025 presidential election to the party leader.
And, after Wednesday’s afternoon meeting at Page House in Mangochi, a representative of the MPs Victor Musowa said they have agreed to support the candidature of Mutharika and nobody else.
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“We, as MPs, have agreed to campaign for Mutharika. As such, we will not support any other candidate because it is only Mutharika who is trusted by Malawians at the moment. We have already told our followers about this decision, such that those interested in the position will not get our support,” he said.
Musowa said following Wednesday’s meeting, they are hopeful that Mutharika will make an announcement very soon regarding his candidature so that the matter can be closed for good.
“The president is going to make an announcement soon because he has given us a nod to continue engaging people on the issue of his candidature. People who want to compete against him at the convention must brace themselves for tough times because our mandate, as MPs, is to make sure that Mutharika represents us in the 2025 presidential poll,” he said.
Another MP, Victoria Kingstone, who doubles as director of women in the party, said their decision to support Mutharika has been approved by their respective constituents, such that what Mutharika needs to do is to announce his candidature as soon as possible.
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“People who are saying things to the contrary are doing so out of malice because they attended the National Governing Council (NGC) meeting at which Mutharika’s name was proposed, people endorsed it and no one opposed the endorsement.
“As such, they cannot oppose the endorsement of Mutharika outside the meeting,” she said.
And, in a separate interview, Mutharika’s spokesperson Shadric Namalomba said the former president is overwhelmed with the support senior members of the party are offering him.
“As things stand, there is a consensus within the DPP that Mutharika should be our candidate and the president will make it official very soon to allow the party to start campaigning,” Namalomba said.
However, speaking in a Times Exclusive interview on Times Television on Saturday, NGC member Nicholas Dausi asked the party to let each and every presidential aspirant campaign freely in the party.
Dausi said those that want to contest for the party’s presidency are likely to support the candidate that will be elected by delegates to the DPP convention if the playfield is level.
When Mutharika addressed the press immediately after attending the NGC meeting earlier this month, he said the party would, in December this year, hold a high-level political conference involving around 2,000 delegates to review and adopt constitutional changes that have been made regarding the number of delegates to the convention.
Some of the MPs that attended yesterday’s meeting are George Chaponda, Chimwemwe Chipungu, Mpinganjira, Charles Mchacha, Jappie Mhango, Mary Navicha, Fyness Mwagonjwa, Chifundo Makande, David Chikwanje, Malume Bokosi, Ruben Kanyama, Mctimes Malowa and Susuwele Banda
