PP, UDF relationship hit skids, divorce looming
Legislators for United Democratic Front (UDF) who are one of the partners to unity government of Peoples Party (PP) have hinted that they will out of the government.
PP and UDF automatically became bed fellows when President Mrs. Joyce Banda appointed two senior UDF parliamentarians Atupele Muluzi and Ibrahim Matola into the cabinet, following the death of late president Bingu wa Mutharika in April this year.
However, four months down the line, the camaraderie is diminishing following accusations made by UDF’s Clement Chiwaya that some PP officials are manoeuvring in UDF controlled constituencies where they are telling electorates that the two parties merged.
This has not gone down with the UDF lawmakers who according to some media reports have been meeting to map the way forward.
“Yes, it is true as UDF members we feel our political career is gloomy because our PP friends have been going out and about telling our supporters that UDF joined PP,” Chiwaya told private owned MIJ radio.
“We are angered by the development hence we were supposed to meet at the weekend as MPs so that we come up with a position which will later be reported to our party leadership,” Chiwaya added.
Commenting on the development, UDF interim president Friday Jumbe while admitting about the MPs discontent, was quick to point out that due to the previous wrangle that rocked that party, he is in the dark regarding the sort of working relationship that exists between the UDF MPs and the ruling PP.
“I’m aware that our MPs are not happy with the way things are going at the moment. Embarrassingly, I don’t know what has gone wrong; this is the case because I’m not aware of the contents of the agreement that made the president to choose Hon. Atupele Muluzi and Hon. Ibrahim Matola into the cabinet.
“On calls by our MPs to have a written memorandum with the ruling party I think it is fair to say that it is the leadership of the party that is responsible for negotiating such an arrangement and not the individuals MPs,” responded Jumbe.
Meanwhile, analysts have long argued that the fact that there is no written document cement the two parties’ relationship, it leaves the UDF in a vulnerable position as the president can simply wake up one morning and fire its ministers without any consultation.
Since being appointed as Cabinet Minister, UDF’s Atupele Muluzi has been silent on what he termed as ‘Agenda for Change Campaign’ which was gaining ground since he launched it.
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