UDF will never resurrect, Muluzi missed an opportunity says Mpinganjira

Founding member of former ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), Brown Mpinganjira has said the party will not “resurrect” and noted that former president Bakili Muluzi missed an opportunity to become “Malawi’s Mandela” when he wanted to seek a third term.

Mpinganjira was speaking on Straight Talk interview programme monitored by Nyasa Times on privately owned Capital Radio. The programme hosted by prolific journalist Brian Banda  was aired on Thursday evening.

“UDF will never ever resurrect. It doesn’t matter what you do, it doesn’t matter what anybody tell you, it doesn’t matter who is going to do what, if we do not change our altitude, the UDF is dead,” said Mpinganjira responding to a question that he had betrayed UDF to discuss with MCP’s John Tembo to be his running mate in May elections.

“I could not have gone to MCP without the blessings of other people.] I feel betrayed,” he said.

The former Mulanje central MP said he remains a member of UDF and could not rule out ambitions to become President of Malawi.

“I am still part and parcel of UDF but I have no position and I have no interest in any position in the UDF,” said Mpinganjira also known as BJ. “I made it very clear during campaign that I was still UDF. I had never joined MCP. My party knew, at least somebody knew. I could not claim the whole party knew but somebody decided to change the goal posts, that’s I suspect that is what some people would consider it to be politics.”

He said presidential ambitions could not  taken away from him.

“But the future will tell. These things are dynamic, I am also growing old now, I am 59 now and another five, six, ten years I will be irrelevant. It’s not really dependent upon me. I don’t know what vehicle I am going to use next so there are so many variables,” he pointed out.

Mpinganjira said he lost his Mulanje central constituency because Muluzi “cheated” him and planted a candidate of UDF (Mrs. Ruth Lemani) behind his back.

Asked by Capital Radio’s Banda who formed the UDF, BJ said: “I think it will be unfortunate if I was to distance myself from that. I think that I played a key role. I played a pivotal role.

“Our first meeting with Bakili on this issue included only three people. Mr. Joseph Mlelemba in Mulanje, Dr Bakili Muluzi and myself. Basically that was the beginning of the UDF as it is. If there were others who were meeting prior to that, I would not challenge that,” he said.

Pressed to explain what went wrong for him who was very close to Muluzi but later turned political foes, Mpinganjira said it centered on ambitions to prolong stay in power by the former president.

He said when Muluzi started nursing ambitions of the third term, “he then looked at anybody else who was productive as being dangerous, as being an obstacle and I think that is where he lost it really.”

Mpinganjira said Muluzi missed a great opportunity to retire with a legacy of a great statesman.

“Some of us have said that Bakili would easily have become the Mandela of Malawi if he had willingly relinquished power after his second term.

“He at that time enjoyed a lot of respect in this country. He enjoyed a lot of popularity. If he hadn’t brought in the third term issue, Bakili would easily have been the most popular and most highly respected individual in this country.”

Mpinganjira was also asked to comment on rumours that he had an agreement with Muluzi that the former president serves the first term and hand over power to him in the second term.

“I have heard about these, the only thing I can say is there was nothing written,” he said.

Asked if the agreement was verbal, he said: “Well, I have come to learn in politics that verbal promises with those who are in power are usually meaningless.”

“I am suggesting that people shuffle their feet once they taste the sweetness of power. They forget their commitments and they forget the things that they are supposed to have done.

“Before you taste sweet power, you are an ordinary person and therefore you are able to agree certain things with ordinary people but once you become an extraordinary person, I suppose you start believing that you can behave differently.”

Mpinganjira said he was targeted in the UDF government because he was believed to be the apparent successor of Muluzi.

BJ said he was pushed to form NDA party against his will when the UDF government got rid of him “in grand-style”.

“After I was kicked out of government for having opposed the third term and those in government then created all sorts of stories, rumours, they tried to destroy me. They tried everything.

“I have been tried for every crime in this world. The only crime that I was not tried was rape but every other crime that could have kept me behind bars for years and years, I was tried for. Every other crime for which I could have been sentenced to death, I have been tried,” said Mpinganjira.

He disclosed that he was lured by Muluzi with promises to dissolve NDA and rejoin UDF when President Bingu wa Mutharika had won the 2004 elections under the banner of UDF.

Mpinganjira however declined to mention the promises that were made to him: “Promises that are not kept, are not worthy repeating. My time will come when I will talk more freely about these promises. There is a lot to it.

“But I can tell you that my discussions were with Bakili, nobody else. Bingu was not involved. Of course, Bakili kept saying that he had been in touch with Bingu. But strangely immediately after we had agreed, we saw relationship between Bakili and Bingu sour,” he said.

Mpinganjira apologised to former members of his NDA for not consulting them when he  disbanded the party to return to UDF.

“Those who feel that I did not consult them, I really apologise and I apologise wholeheartedly,” he said.

Asked if he feels cheated for the promises which were not kept, Mpinganjira said: “I feel sad sometimes that people are able to shift goal posts at will without any conscious at all. But I have learnt to rely heavily on the grace of God so I understand these things.

“I derive my strength from God and it doesn’t bother me any longer. I said to myself whatever God has decided that is what is going to happen. If God decided that you are going to be president, you will be president. If God decides that you will not be president now but in the future, that is going to happen. If God decides you are not going to be president at all, that is what is going to happen.”

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