CCAP Blantyre Synod guides flock on best leader for Malawi: Mutharika touted for re-election 

The Blantyre Synod of the CCAP Church says Malawians need to choose a leader that cannot only enhance and promote good governance, but also who understands fully that rule of law with a high degree accountability, integrity, consistency and responsibility.

The synod’s General Secretary Reverend Billy Gama and his moderator, Reverend Masauko Mbolembole, emphasize that Malawi has reached a critical stage where a leader who will be able to oversee checks and balances of the three arms of the Government.

“Against this background, it is critical to assess objectively the track records of those competing for the presidency in order to establish how constructive they have been in their usage of power.

“With this observation in mind, it is key for citizens to critically assess abuse of power in every candidate before they are entrusted with more responsibility and power,” say Gama and Mbolembole in a statement issued today.

Ironically, President Peter Mutharika is the only one with a track record of leading the nation among the candidates for the fresh presidential election.

The others, Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and UTM Alliance and Peter Kuwani of Mbakuwaku Movement for Development (MMD) have never led this country.

The statement comes barely a few days after the synod suspected four of its clergymen for holding a press briefing without the synod leadership’s consent.

The four are the Reverend Donnex Mateyu Ngalande of Chileka CCAP who is also coordinator of the group, the Reverend Dezio Maloya of Sharpevale CCAP in Ntcheu, the Reverend Frank Mkwezalamba of Madziabango in Blantyre Rural Presbytery and the Reverend Duncan Kananji of Blantyre City Presbytery.

The quartet on Tuesday held a press conference at the synod’s Grace Bandawe Conference Centre where they accused the synod’s leadership of politicising the pulpit by urging clerics to campaign for governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Peter Mutharika in the fresh presidential election on June 23.

During their briefing on Tuesday, Ngalande claimed that the synod leadership held a meeting at Likhubula Youth Centre in Mulanje on May 28 where 95 ministers were taught how to encourage CCAP members to vote for DPP, a claim Gama dismissed as not true.

In their letter, Gama and Mbolembole advised voters not allow themselves to be misled by candidates that are just hungry for power, saying such candidates service their own needs at the expense of the poor electorate.

“Malawi needs a leader whose campaign is based on issues and a concrete agenda to develop Malawi rather than politicians whose campaign is full of empty promises and castigation of others.

“Furthermore, if we are to put in power real democrats, the test is in how they have conducted themselves throughout the career of their politics,” say the two men of the collar.