By Isaac Salima:
Expelled Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Southern Region former vice president Kondwani Nankhumwa Sunday spoke about his next course of action, saying he will be on the ballot in the September 2025 presidential election.
Earlier this month, the erstwhile governing party announced that it had fired Nankhumwa and others from the party, a decision that was made after some senior members of the party were called to a disciplinary hearing in Lilongwe.
Speaking to DPP supporters who blocked his way at Chitsime Primary School in Blantyre— where the Mulanje Central parliamentarian attended the induction of Reverend Macdonald Ngwaya at Ndirande-Makata CCAP Church in the commercial city Sunday— the Leader of Opposition told people who were clad in ‘Kondwani Nankhumwa’ branded t-shirts that they should not listen to those who are claiming that he has joined forces with some political parties in the country.
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“I will tell the nation about my stand later this week and whatever I will say will shake the nation. What you should know is that I will be on the ballot come rain come sunshine.
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“I will address people through a press briefing. We have been fired from the party and we are done with DPP, such that we have to move on,” Nankhumwa said.
Speaking earlier, DPP deputy campaign director for the Southern Region Alice Rita said they just wanted Nankhumwa to give them direction.
“Nankhumwa’s firing means that we, too, have been expelled from the party. As such, we wanted to be told where we will go next. We will cling to him because we have come a long distance with him,” Rita said.
During the day, some women tore off and burnt DPP pieces of cloth.
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On Friday last week, DPP spokesperson Shadric Namalomba told The Daily Times that the door was not entirely shut for fired members that may show remorse.
However, some of the fired officials said they did not even know who signed their expulsion letters if, at all, the letters were there following Namalomba’s statement, which he made on January 20 2024.
One of the expelled members, Mark Botomani, who until January 2024 was national director of research and training in the party, is quoted as saying he was yet to receive his expulsion letter.
“I have not yet received my expulsion letter and, so, if you ask me about my next move, I’m afraid I have nothing to say to you since I’m yet to see the contents of my expulsion letter and the offence that led to the decision,” Botomani said.
DPP’s former National Governing Council (NGC) member Ken Msonda also said he had not received his expulsion letter and doubted if, at all, the letter Namalomba released received the blessing of the party’s disciplinary committee and Central Executive Committee.
“It has been days since the day we were expelled from the party but none of us has received letters indicating the same. It is strongly rumored that there is a misunderstanding among Central Executive Committee and Disciplinary Committee members, who are arguing on the issue of who authorised the writing and releasing of the letter Namalomba wrote,” Msonda said.
Msonda claimed that some members of the Disciplinary Committee had told them that the committee recommended a strong warning to all members who attended the “illegal” NGC meeting and not suspension or expulsion.
“We are supposed to receive letters indicating that we have been expelled; the same way they wrote us when inviting us to the disciplinary hearing.
At the moment, we do not even know who signed the expulsion letters. That’s why we are just quiet; we can’t make a decision on the next move based on a mere statement,” Msonda said.
Some of the suspended members, including DPP member for the Central Region Uladi Mussa who was suspended from the party for nine months, also said they had not received their expulsion letters.
However, Namalomba said the letters had been dispatched to affected members.
“If they want the letters, they will get them. The letters have been dispatched and they will soon receive them through their district chairpersons. Let’s not waste time with technicalities; the party has made its decision,” Namalomba said.
He added that there is room for the expelled and suspended members as well as others who were affected in other ways to offer an apology to the party if they felt like doing so.
“In any situation, when you have been expelled, you can go back and ask that your case be revisited. As such, the room is there for them to appeal the sentence. And, yes, there is an opportunity that they can come back if they want to. They can approach the party,” Namalomba said.
On January 20 this year, the party announced that it had expelled Nankhumwa, Grezelder Jeffrey, Mark Botomani, Ken Msonda and others.
The party also suspended for nine months some of its members including Mussa and Ralph Jooma.
