Court orders MCP convention within 90 days

High Court of Malawi in Lilongwe has ordered the main opposition, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) to hold a convention within 90 days after disgruntled members took the party to court.

Lawyer for the disgruntled members, Wesley Namasala said his clients were not happy with leadership style of party president Lazarus Chakwera whom they accuse of disregarding elected positions in the party and opted to appoint people into positions.

“The judgement clearly says if the convention is not held within 90 days, the Hon Chakwera’s appointed positions in the party are null and void. This means the party will automatically revert to the 2013 elected positions ,” he said.

Namasala said the High Court judgement has not mentioned the issue of cost of the convention which he said means the party should foot all the bills for the extraordinary convention which is provided for in party constitution.

He said Chakwera even created some positions which are not provided for in the party Constitution, saying he just wanted to accommodate  his croonies.

MCP publicity secretary Jessie Kabwila said she had not heard of the ruling and promised to come back after consulting the party leadership.

Namasala said 27 party officials, including regional chairmen and committee directors took Chakwera and the party to court after noticing Chakwera was drifting into dictatorship and was disregarding advice from the party.

He  said the judgement would bring sanity in the country’s oldest party.

Some political commentators had earlier called on Chakwera to ensure intraparty democracy prevails in the main opposition party.