FORMER Minister of Finance, Ken Kandodo, has said his focus as a member of the main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) will be to build a strong party for presidential election victory in 2019.
Speaking when MCP members from Kasungu District and the Central Region welcomed him into the party yesterday, Kandodo said it is too early to concentrate on his plans for a parliamentary seat in 2019.
Kandodo, who served Kasungu Central Constituency between 2009 and 2014, lost the seat to another MCP member, Amon Nkhata, sparking concerns on what will happen between the two in 2019.
But Kandodo said he is joining the MCP after some party members approached him to help in the process of strengthening the oldest party for “the needed glory” in future elections.
“It is just too early for us to start talking about a parliamentary seat. We have an MP for this area, Amon Nkhata, and we have to give him a chance to represent the area in the next two years. What we want to do is to ensure that the party gets support and wins the 2019 elections at both presidential and parliamentary levels,” Kandodo said.
Nkhata said he is not in any way worried with the presence of Kandodo in MCP.
He said he anticipated the political move that Kandodo has made and they have been discussing the way forward.
He said he is happy that Kandodo has, after a long time of persuasion, joined MCP and the decision will help in the effort of making the party a force to reckon with.
“Above all, we are both free to contest in three constituencies in Kasungu. We have been talking and we know what we are doing,” Nkhata said.
Kandodo joined active politics as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Member of Parliament for Kasungu Central in 2009 and served as minister of finance and minister of defence during Bingu wa Mutharika and Joyce Banda regimes.
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