Bingu donates K100m towards DPP headquarters
Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika has donated K100 million towards the construction of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in the capital city, Lilongwe.
The DPP which has been operating from a rented house as its headquarters has acquired a piece of land within Lilongwe city and sources said plans are at advanced stage to start construction.
Sources within the party’s National Governing Council (NGC) disclosed that Mutharika made the donation during the party’s NGC meeting held at his residence the New State House in Lilongwe on Friday, February 3, 2012.
However, the party has kept both the issue of building a headquarters, the location and the donation from the President a well guarded secret with both party spokesperson Hetherwick Ntaba and Secretary General Wakuda Kamanga refusing to comment.
“I cannot confirm anything on the issues you have raised. When we will be ready to have a headquarters nothing will be a secret,” said Kamanga.
Sources said during the NGC meeting Mutharika, after announcing the K100 million donation, also asked members of the NGC to follow his example.
“This is a project that should be at the heart of every member of the party and it is the NGC that should lead the way by donating at least something,” he is said to have told the members.
The seven-year old party is said to have acquired land which is between Reserve Bank of Malawi and Kambuku Total Filling Station just behind NICO House which houses USAID offices in Lilongwe’s City Centre.
Sources said Mutharika is talking of an ambitious project to surpass the once magnificent MCP headquarters just a stone throw away from the site.
If the project materialises DPP will only be a second party after MCP to have its own headquarters building as the UDF is still using rented premises that serve as its headquarters in Limbe, Blantyre.
