Malawians say DPP convention redundant one

Malawians have taken up in social media to ask the rationale of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)  to elect a treasurer general of the party when the sole party bank account signatory is President Peter Mutharika.

A graft busting body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) report has said Mutharika is the sole signatory to the party’s bank account.

Writing on Facebook, a lot of Malawians have expressed dismay that the President controls all the funds for the party yet it has a treasurer general.

Mutharika will be rubber stamped at the convention as the party’s leader for the next five years without a challenge.

MalawI News columnist George Kasakula writing on ‘Hitting the nail’ argued that by all standards, it is a “redundant convention” that has no intrinsic value to Malawians at large for it is one-sided. The delegates are all unanimous in their support for Mutharika.

“It must be remembered that the DPP was practically divided between the conservatives and the liberals, as represented by [vice president Saulos] Chilima’s challenge against his boss after former first lady Callista Mutharika said Chilima would be a better candidate for DPP in next year’s presidential election.

“The conservatives won this battle because they threatened everything that included violence and barring any Chilima supporter from even attending the indaba. The purge worked now that this convention will be attended by only conservative supporters of the status quo,” he wrote.

Kasakula pointed out that it will be “a drab affair” for the next three days as like-minded individuals who are all loyal to President Mutharika and would want to keep the status quo of things both at party level and at government level have congregated.

“There will be nothing to write home about because they will not be any change of policy on anything as it is the same people that have made our lives a misery for the past four years who are running for the positions and they intend to keep things the same way for another five years, should they win next year,” he wrote.

However, there will be competition especially for the position of the party’s vice presidency for the southern region considered as the party’s stronghold area.

Former Minister of Agriculture Dr George Chaponda who is also the current Vice President for the southern Region is expecting to face stiff challenge from Local government minister Kondwani Nankhumwa, minister of trade Henry Mussa and honourable Joseph Mwanamveka who is the current minister of Agriculture.

“A total of 2,000 delegates are expected at the convention,” chairperson of the convention, Nicholous Dausi said.

Political analyst from the Chancellor College in Zomba, Imran Sharif said DPP convention is a sign of intra-party democracy which in the end generates a general democratic environment.

“Political party leaders chosen through a convention are fully eligible and a true representation of the people who democratically elect them hence this is necessary for the DPP,” Sharif explained.

The DPP convention is slated for Monday July 2, 2018 at the COMESA Hall in Blantyre.

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