New party in the North Malawi jostles Chihana to revamp Aford
Leader of the Alliance for Democracy, (AFORD) Enoch Chihana has jostled into action to revamp the party in the northern region following the formation of a new political party linked to former UTM spokesperson Frank Mwenifumbo.
Chihana has been busy in the northern region since the announcement of the formation of National Development Party (NDP) which people are linking to Mwenifumbo.
Party officials say Mwenifumbo is just an ordinary member of NDP and has no position although reports indicate he formed the party and is financing it.
On Thursday, Chihana was on a whistle stop tour in Karonga and Chitipa to woo people back into Aford.
Chihana said this country must strive to have national unity, respect of diversity and social cohesion if development is to take place.
He was speaking at Uliwa trading centre in Karonga district and at Chitimba trading centre in Rumphi district respectively.
Chihana said time has come for Aford to pitch its vision of national building and transformative agenda for Malawi to have a meaningful development.
“I have crisscrossed this country from Mangochi to Mulanje to Nsanje to Kasungu with an sole purpose of unifying this country and build a culture of tolerance, coexistence and respect for diversity which are fundamental for socioeconomic development.
“I dare to say, anyone who preaches politics of exclusion in AFORD is not welcomed because AFORD ‘died on the cross’ in 1993 to redeem Malawians from politics of retribution and vengeance,” said Chihana while appealing to chiefs to be agents of hope and transformation.
Meanwhile, officials of NDP say the party will be launched soon.
The party’s interim secretary general Gerald Chilongo says the party has already fulfilled the requirements of submitting it’s manifesto to National Planning Commission (NPC) as per the amended 2022 Political Party Act.Reads the statement in part: “NDP began working with NPC on this process from last year and having satisfied all the requirements, the NPC issued a Certificate of Compliance on 18th December, 2023. Hence, we can now confirm that indeed there is a new political entity in the offing known as NDP.”
Chilongo has also refuted claims that Mwenifumbo owns the party saying he is just one of the interim National Executive Committee members .
“NDP as a political entity will be run or managed by Malawians and that it will not be taken and managed administratively like a family entity. NDP is for Malawians, “reads the statement.
