Open letter from Malawi Congress Party members
We are concerned members of our beloved Malawi Congress Party(MCP), a mother of the too many political parties existing in the country. We are proud to be bonafide members of the party who strictly adhere to values and philosophy of the party as taught to us by the late founding father Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Unity, Loyalty, Obedience and Discipline, these four corner stones are what has made us and the party stronger than ever before.
We would like to pay reverence to our founding father, the late Dr. Banda whose vision and love for his people has propelled both the party and the country to greatest stature, May his soul rest in peace.
Our beloved Ngwazi wished well for the party and the people of the country as evidenced by his setting up of the solid foundation of the nation which we are all proud of. We cannot talk about development in Malawi without being acquainted with the success stories orchestrated by the late Ngwazi, our hero.
He established the road network from Nsanje to Chitipa, Nkhotakota to Mchinji. In terms of infrastructure development, it can take us the whole day counting on the good things he did for the country including construction of all administrative structures in all districts and cities in the country including hospitals, district council and all government offices, the magnificent Capital Hill, all airports, irrigation schemes and the list is just endless.
As if that is not enough, the late Ngwazi made sure his people lived in absolute peace and that law and order were strictly adhered to and that is why we did not have many cases of theft and robberies as is the case now a days.
But supreme above all is the ability of him to allow peace and order prevail in the country when he accepted defeat in the first ever multiparty election, an action of a states man and an icon of peace and tranquility.
We would not be doing justice if we hail the late Ngwazi without mentioning the incumbent President John Zenus Ungapake Tembo, the man who has been at the helm of running the affairs of the party up to now. We are not interested in going into details of what happened for him to assume the presidency after a long brawl over leadership with Gwanda Chakuamba, we were all there and we know what really happened.
That notwithstanding, we are compelled to pay respect to our leader right hon. John Tembo who has led the party all this time and the party has survived the test of times under his leadership because we are aware of how hard it has been for him to lead the party in opposition for a period of about two decades now.
We could have wished if the party President right honorable Tembo would continue with the good job he is doing for the party but alas! our hands are tied by the constitutional provision which is the supreme law of governing affairs of our mighty party.
We would have loved to give him another term of office but considering the fact that the constitution does not allow him to contest again, it is not in our best interest to encourage delegates at the party convention to circumvent the constitutional provisions by making attempts to change any clause in it because doing so would set a bad precedence.
As concerned members of the party, we are happy to be associated with the mighty party and the proliferation of people expressing interest to vie for the top most mantle of the presidency is a clear indication that the party is gaining more grounds and that more people are getting attracted to the party day in, day out.
We have been compelled to inscribe this open epistle to all members of the party of good will including the party executive members, genuine supporters and indeed delegates at the forth coming convention prior to the vigorous and challenging task ahead of us which is to offer a leader of vision and ambition for our beloved mother Malawi, come May 2014.
Parties have chosen their respective presidential candidates and people have seen them but it is crystal clear that most if not all have not made up their minds as regarding to who they would vote for, why? They are waiting for a winning candidate and that candidate must come from the strongest and only powerful opposition party in the country, Malawi Congress Party.
Two daunting tasks ahead of us, the convention and the general elections but the most scaring one being our convention because it may either break or make our beloved party.
We have followed events leading to the convention with keen interest and have the following observations to make:
1. Time is not on our side, we would like to beseech our executive committee members in consultation with the party president to make sure they speed up the process so that we should have an ample time to sell our candidate to the people of the country because our supporters and the people of the country are anxiously waiting. Let us hold the convention and no more shifting of dates and venues again!
2. We are calling on the executive to consider respecting the guiding blue print of our party the constitution in handling all matters related to the smooth running of the convention if we are to win the next year’s election.
3. Much as we know that there has been overwhelming response as regarding to number of people expressing interest to contest for the presidency, we would like to urge the party to critically vet the contestants so that we should not face what happened to our colleagues in the opposition UDF when they gave power to an outsider because of Muluzi’s greed.
4. In any election, contestants have a right to campaign but we must state here without fear of retraction that we are dismayed at the way some groups of people are conducting their campaign in their quest to woo the delegates to vote for them. We are against politics of mudslinging, hate speech, political bickering and backbiting as we are all children of one family. Surprisingly, these acts are being perpetrated by some so called God fearing people, it is so sad.
5. We would like to ask the delegates to remember that there are some people who have fought the war of change and are still singing that song in trying to see to it that our party is in good shape and ready for the tripartite election that is promising to be a hard nut to crack.
6. We need to sober up and put our house in order by holding a peaceful convention and elect leaders who have the vision for the party. Without necessarily mentioning names of people but we would be unjust if we fail to acknowledge the good fight which some members of the executive fought in within the party in order for the party to open up for competition within all the ranks and files of the party.
7. We are grateful to all these strong men who stood firm and made it a point that the convention should be held and that all positions should be contested, this is good for our democracy and it should serve as a lesson to the rest of the members in the party that we are obliged to fight for the good course in a democratic set up.
8. Call us good or bad but the fact remains that some of the people who have expressed interest to contest for the presidency have just been sent to confuse the party and we call upon delegates to consider this fact with sober mind.
9. With due respect, we are aware that the party president right hon. Tembo would like to contest regardless of his eligibility. Some notable names include our Secretary General Dr. Chris Daza, the former chief justice Lovemore Munlo, Mr. Beston Majoni, Mr. Felix Jumbe, Dr. Lazarous Chakwera, Mr. Jodder Kanjere, Mr. Eston Kakhome and Dzombe. Without demeaning any contestant, we believe that Mr. Beston Majoni, Mr. Kanjere, Mr. Dzombe and Mr. Kakhome are nowhere near the equation because they are not popular both in the party and outside the party circles.
10. Out of the serious contenders in the race Lovemore Munlo, HON. Josephy Njovuyalema ,the SG Dr. Chris Daza, Felix Jumbe, Dr.Lazarus Chakwera, and the President, we are of the opinion that Mr. President is not eligible and automatically out of the race. We have reservations with Dr. Chakwera who has already been linked with a possible move to form his own political party if he loses; we believe his coming to MCP is not in good faith, why think of forming another party if he claims to be MCP?
11. It is our hope that delegates will strongly consider ushering into power one of the dear sons of the party in the names of Josephy Njovuyalema,Eston Kakhome,Beston Majoni, Felix Jumbe the SG. Mr. Chris Daza, Lovemore Munlo or Jodder Kanjere.
12. That stated we would also like to remind the delegates and the executive committee that it is very imperative that when we will be making a decision we look at someone who has been in the party for some time, someone with ability to attract support from cooperating and development partners and someone who has the potential to turn things around for the country to see a change in the style of leadership.
13. Finally, it is our belief that together, we can make a difference to build our party and forge ahead as a nation under Malawi Congress Party and the abled leader we are going to elect at the convention…a leader with a vision and ability to transform the nation. Ife tonse tisayiwale kuti chipani chathu chamangidwa pa ngodya zinayi! Umodzi, Kumvera, Kukhulupilika ndi Kusunga mwambo!!! Mulungu atidalitse tonse komanso dziko lathu lokondedwa la Malawi.
CONCERNED MEMBERS, THE MALAWI CONGRESS PARTY
MALISENI BOGA (IINTERIM CHAIRPERSON) -0998332545
