MCP youths want ‘troublemakers’ out

Tom Sangala January 16, 2018

328 1 minute read

Youth Movement of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has said they want troublemakers out of the party to pave way for dedicated people to lead them.
The movement’s Chairperson, Ishmael Onani, was speaking during a meeting the youth had on Monday to clean up the party’s headquarters.
“We are disappointed with Gustave Kaliwo, Richard Msowoya and Jessie Kabwila. They must leave the party if they feel like. They do not want to be there anymore. There is freedom of association and we respect that.
“If they want to leave and form their own party, we do not mind. They should feel free to go but let them be honest with us. As the youth, we are fed up with their unstable acts, and we have come up with a movement to get rid of all the people who are causing trouble in the party,” Onani said.
One of the members of the movement, Elizabeth Mukhuna, accused Kaliwo of double standards in the manner he is handling party affairs.
“As a secretary general for the party, he signed for the names for National Executive Committee released on 27 August 2015. We believed in him but on January 12 [2018], he wrote memo with five other people disregarding the same Nec. As the youth, we are angry with these people and are fed up with them and we will not sit down and watch these people ruin our party,” Mukhuna said.
She added: “We want responsible and constructive people to lead this party. As the youth, we have chosen Lazarus Chakwera to lead us and that’s the man we would like to remain in power.”
Kaliwo and Msowoya could not be reached for their reaction on the stand taken by the party’s youths.
Kabwila has said the youth need to go back to the party’s constitution and check who has the powers to vote anybody out of the party.
“Tell the MCP youth to look at the MCP constitution. If they are true Malawi Congress Party members, they know who has powers to boot anyone out of the party. In fact the current wrangles are [there] because people are not following the [party’s] four cornerstones. The major part of the four cornerstones is constitutionalism. You don’t just wake up and say ‘I don’t want so and so’. This is not a love affair. This is a political party and it is guided by the constitution,” she said.
MCP has been rocked by power struggles, with some senior members of the party unhappy with the influence new-recruit Sidik Mia is having over old guards.
Meanwhile, Mia is expected to hold a press briefing today where it is believed that he will make known his intention to vie for the party’s vice presidency.