Mutharika, Chilima meeting dominates Malawi press as details emerge on succession stand-off

May 30, 2018 Osman Faiti -Nyasa Times 15 Comments

The meeting between President Peter Mutharika and Vice-President Saulos Chilima at Sanjika Palace on Monday has dominated Malawi media after details have emerged that Chilima has refused  to discuss the widening rift within the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with a presidential delegation of three Cabinet ministers.

Succession stand-off: President Mutharika and vice president Chilima

The Nation, under the headline “Why Chilima, APM met’  with subheadlines ‘VP rebuffed presidential delegation’ and ‘3 Cabinet ministers requested for meeting’’ reported on the three Cabinet ministers – Goodall Gondwe (Finance, Economic Planning and Development), Samuel Tembenu (Justice and Constitutional Affairs) and Bright Msaka (Education, Science and Technology) – were delegated by the President Mutharika to persuade Chilima to dismiss the so-called Chilima Movement drumming up support for his presidential bid in May  2019  elections.

Malawi’s flagship Daily Times also reports on the same angle with a headline, ‘APM, Chilima meet’.

The press quoting sources, said the delegation which met Chilima last week Tuesday at his official residence in Lilongwe’s Area 12 reported back to Mutharika that the Vice-President refused to act on any of the issues they put on the table.

The presidential delegation reportedly guaranteed Chilima that he will be Mutharika’s Runningmate on DPP tickets in 2019 as it were in 2014.

But Chilima is said to have asked the three ministers to arrange a meeting between him and the President to map the way forward.

Privately-owned Zodiak  Broadcasting Corporation also has been running the story also quoting government insiders about the meeting.

Minister of Information Nicholas Dausi, who is government spokesperson, downplayed the meeting as normal for the Presidency to meet and hold discussions, stressing “the two meet time and again.”

Presidential spokesman Mgeme Kalilani also said the VP has been visiting State House “every time he wants to see the President”,  therefore there was nothing peculiar about the Monday meeting to discuss government business.

Nyasa Times reported first about the Presidency meeting on Tuesday quoting  highly-placed sources that the VP was not “summoned” but he requested to meet the Head of State on his own accord.

“He asked for an audience with President Mutharika. The President accepted to meet him and they met behind closed doors for two hours from two o’clock in the afternoon. No one knows what they discussed because they were only the two of them in that meeting,” said a State House source.

Two camps have emerged in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with one rooting for the 79-year-old President, while another is saying current Vice-President Chilima, 45 should take over.

Mutharika is eligible for a second and mandatory final five year term up to 2024 as per the Malawi constitution.bJe has declared he will be DPP torchbearer in the polls while Chilima has not committed himself on the calls for him to run for the presidency.

Catholic bishops, in their latest pastoral latter titled ‘A call for a new era’, appealed to political parties to embrace intra-party democracy.

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15 replies on “Mutharika, Chilima meeting dominates Malawi press as details emerge on succession stand-off”

  2. Candidly,let Malawians be far sighted.S.Chilima is very qualified for the Presidency of our nation whether someone likes or not,Chilima is our God-Given gift.Firstly,he is young,articulate and loved by the masses of our people from the Southern tip-to the Northern tip,from Eastern Islands-to the Western tip.Candidly speaking,A.Muthalika has used his time and now it is his time to abandon the throne for young and able people.A.Muthalika and his late brother Bingu came into Malawi not to help its citizens rebuild their gorgeous land,but to lay-waste our beautiful land and indeed,they have done just that.I recall Masauko Chipembere’s words when I visited him at his Oyster-Bay home in Dar-es-salaam,Tanzania in the 70s before he went to the US for diabetes treatment.This is what he told me: Winston,Iam going to the States for treatment of my diabetes and Iam not sure of my return to Africa and my beloved fatherland Malawi.In case I will be buried in the US,Iam proud to say that do not break-down,we still have brilliant young leaders like Professor Thandika Mkandawire and Professor George Attati Mphakati.Unfortunately,Attati was murdered in cold-blood by Liyabunya Banda’s specialist killer in Harare,Zimbabwe.However,Masauko did not mention the name A.Muthalika who was also living in Dar es salaam,Tanzania.Later on I learnt that Masauko was not impressed by the two crooked and maladroit brothers.What CHIPEMBERE told me,was prognosticate which every wise Malawian now knows.You had seen when A.Muthalika’s brother appointed him a Minister of Education and Foreign Affairs,what he did was discouraging and before that he was a lecturer at Washington State University where students boycotted and demonstrated against his performance.If it was another patriotic leader,Muthalika could have brought the remains of Chipembere from the USA and be buried in the country he intrepidly fought for its independence.It would be for the interests of Malawians if they support Chilima in his bid to lead our nation.First and foremost,he is a non-tribalist and a non-corrupt national leader.On behalf of Malawians in diaspora,we pray for Chilima’s success!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. chilima should not be underrated ,pple plzźzz remember hon Joyce Banda ,she once refused to resign siting
    hacking in the electronic votes from polling stations to the tally centre,do you know or do you perhaps sniff who masterminded such a wicked plan?pleeaasee pple let us all love our country ,that’s the only property we have,enafe olo nyumba tilibe,tikati tili ndi chum ndiye dziko lathe malawi

  6. Actually APM & Chilima are all thieves, Chakwera will carry the day in 2019 elections.

  7. DPP team azigogo is afraid of calling for a convention because they know if Chilima contest against APM, Chilima will be the voctor

  8. Ubanda , why asking him not to go ahead with his ambitions of competing with APM if DPP is not afraid with Chilima , pali bii pali munga ?

  10. Chilima shold face reality – he can’t make it outside DPP. Let him try, he will be toast.

      1. That’s true, the party he will form as well as DPP will loose miserably as they will divide their votes & MCP shall carry the day with a landslide victory. Remember Mpinganjira formed NDA which lost dispite hapving city support. Chilima has city support but unfortunately he doesn’t have rural support where most voters are. At the end both Chilima & Munthalika sides have personal interests if they form the next government, it’s all about selfish gains!

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