PP claims its membership has reached 4 million
Secretary General of the ruling People’s Party (PP), Henry Chibwana said Friday membership of the party has hit about four million.
Chibwana was speaking to journalists in Lilongwe on Friday during a meeting that was organized to sensitize Malawians about the forthcoming national convention the party will hold this month on August 27, saying the party is welcoming people from other parties weekly.
“People’s Party is the most popular party in the country at the moment and as such many people want to join us. At the moment, I can say with certainty that we have about four million members,” Chibwana explained.
Flanked by Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Grace Maseko, party’s Legal Advisor, Paul Maulidi and Publicity Secretary Steven Mwenye, the Secretary General hinted that PP does not work in isolation and hopes that other political parties’ representatives will be invited to attend the convention.
He also explained that PP would want to enhance intra-party democracy, saying previous regimes when they were in power never recognized this important tenet of democracy. He said people were being oppressed or intimidated to voice out their concerns freely.
“The other reason we have decided to hold convention is that we want to promote intra-party democracy. This will differentiate us from other parties that never tolerated it,” Chibwana added.
Commenting on the inclusion of the participants in the party, Legal Advisor Paul Maulidi explained that the party recognizes every member with equality in order to maximize participation at all levels.
“Some people speculate that other individuals are being favoured by the leadership. It’s not true because the party believes in maximizing participation of members at all levels,” Maulidi said.
The PP will be the first political party to hold its national convention before 2014 general elections. The convention will be held under a theme: “A better Malawi is possible”.
