Malawi VP barred from addressing public rally
Authorities in Malawi on Friday wrote State Vice President Joyce Banda stopping her from addressing a public political rally of her People’s Party (PP), which was scheduled to take place at Mponela in Dowa district.
According to an official in the Vice President’s office in Lilongwe, the letter originated from the Dowa District Commissioner’s office and cited the security concerns as the reason.
“They wrote the VP directly’ they advised her not to go ahead with the intended meeting and that should the ‘fragile’ political situation normalizes, she would be allowed to address a meeting,” said the official.
Banda was fired from the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of President Bingu wa Mutharika in December 2010. She opposed the President’s attempts to position his own brother, Peter Mutharika as the successor of the party and as the next president of the country.
She continues to serve in her constitutional Vice President of Malawi position.
Banda went ahead to form the People’s Party, which was registered in April, 2011 after a protracted legal battle with the DPP- regime.
Son of ex-President Bakili Muluzi was arrested in Lilongwe on Tuesday for addressing a rally in the capital city. Atupele Muluzi aspires to be the flag-bearer for UDF in the 2014 Presidential elections.
The arrest followed on the heels of witnesses say angry residents attacking a police station after police teargassed a crowd of hundreds who gathered at a Muluzi political rally in Area 24 in the Capital City.
Authorities claim Atupele did not have permission to hold the gathering, but Muluzi’s UDF contends they did.
He is still under police custody but moved to a hospital with a bout of malaria and high blood pressure.
