Joyce Banda promises political surprises: Gives PP new rays of hope

Former president Joyce Banda on Thursday gave the Peoples Party (PP) new rays of hope as she opened the party elective convention in Blantyre, saying the party will pull surprises during the 2019  Tripartite elections.

Speaking before a 2 000 strong party delegation, Banda was upbeat the former ruling party would be back in government with or without electoral alliances.

“The Peoples Party has surprised many people before, it will surprise them again in 2019. Some people said Peoples Party was supposed to die in 2015 but here we are,” she said.

She said the PP  had been working underground with the grass roots hence the reason it is still surviving despite some top level defections to other parties.

Banda then paid tribute to all the political remnant of the party whom she said managed to hold the party together.

“Some people were proclaiming that the party is dead, but here we are, much stronger than ever before,” she said.

She then reminded people on the achievements of her government between 2012 and 2014, saying there were minimal power blackouts, lack of water and fuel problems.

JB, as she is fondly called, said once voted back into power, she would improve the economy.

The former president called on members  reorganize, mobilise and build the Peoples Party in readiness to form government.

“We  must realign the national political fabric to redeem the country from the current position of helplessness and despair,” said  Banda.

“We must win the next year’s elections and put the social-economic development agenda back on track thereby making our country a beckon of hope and pride once again,” she added.

The Peoples Party northern region committee threatened not to take part in the voting during the convention because the party failed to provide them with food since they came to Blantyre on Wednesday.

However, Banda said the issue has now been resolved.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for Banda said the former president will not vie for a parliamentary seat in Zomba Malosa.

He said Banda will only go for the presidency where she is likely to face the ruling Democratic Progressive Party candidate Peter Mutharika, main opposition Malawi Congress Party president Lazarus Chakwera and high flying political heavyweight Saulos Chilima of the United Transformation Movement.

Banda came third during the 2014 election after Mutharika and Chakwera

Banda was President of Malawi between 2012 and 2014. She is credited for Joyce Banda for building the country and uplifting the socioeconomic status of Malawians. The Malawi economy ebbed to its knees in the last days of the late Bingu wa Mutharika, her predecessor, which was characterized by sky-rocketing inflation, fuel and forex scarcity, and frequent blackouts, among others.

When JB, as she is fondly called by her adorers, came on the scene, the long fuel queues immediately became a thing of the past; blackouts that characterized Bingu’s reign also became a thing of the past and there were no blackouts throughout the reign of Joyce Banda.

Banda is also credited for introducing some of the boldest corrective reforms never introduced in the history of the country. Within two years, she was firmly on the right socio-economic development path, and her government was able to implement an Economic Recovery Plan (ERP), which helped the economy to grow from 1.8 percent to 6.3 percent and improved the status of fuel for a day to 15 days’ fuel supply.

She also established the Ministry of Good Governance whose primary mandate was to draw up a comprehensive work plan for dealing with corruption and plunder of public resources. Banda also scored highly on other pro-poor projects such as Farm Input Subsidy; a cow per family and Mudzi Transformation Fund.

Banda is likely to campaign on some of these achievements ahead of tripartite elections next year if she is given the nod by the national convention to be PP’s torchbearer in the next two days.

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