Mutharika grants PAC an audience at Kamuzu Palace

President Peter Mutharika is scheduled to meet this Monday Public Affairs Committee (PAC), a quasi-religious body formed in 1992 during the country’s olitical transition from one-party to multiparty system of government.

Spokesman for President Mutharika, Mgeme Kalilani confirmed that the Malawi leader has granted  PAC an audience at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe from 2pm.

PAC executive director Robert Phiri also confirmed the  PAC mediators team leader Archbishop Thomas Msusa and the members will brief the Head of State on the outcome of the dialogue meetings the grouping held with various stakeholders in the post-election impasse.

The faith leaders grouping  held dialogue with UTM Party president Saulos Chilima and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera and the team extended invitation to Mutharika.

“I can  confirm that the audience has been granted,” Kalilani said.

He said State House expects PAC to give President Mutharika “feedback” on the  dialogue meetings it had held.

On his part Phiri also said  PAC will brief  Mutharika  of its previous meetings.

The PAC mediation team comprises members from the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM), Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), Quadria Muslim Association of Malawi (QMAM) and Malawi Council of Churches (MCC).

Led by Msusa, who is the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Blantyre of the Catholic Church, PAC embarked on a dialogue initiative in a bid to pacify the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and opposition parties disputing the May 21 Tripartite Elections results, especially in the presidential race.

While PAC rolled out its mediation drive, Chilima and Chakwera filed a petition in the court seeking nullification of the presidential election results over alleged irregularities.

Msusa said the PAC mediators were pleased that during the meetings with UTM and MCP leadership, the Lilongwe Peace Declaration document was a point of reference and that one of the  outcomes was the use of complaint mechanisms by the two parties through seeking legal redress.

The mediation initiative follows the signing of a PAC-advocated Lilongwe Peace Declaration by six of the seven presidential candidates on May 4 this year in the run up to the May 21 polls. Mutharika did not sign as the ceremony clashed with his scheduled travel to the Northern Region.