Interview: UDF leadership has been swallowed up–Lucius Banda

Former leader of United Democratic Front (UDF) in Parliament, LUCIUS BANDA, speaks to Weekend Nation on his decision not to follow fellow party MPs to government benches. Excerpts:

Q. Why did you decide not to follow fellow UDF MPs to sit on the government side of the House?
A. Well, as an individual I haven’t been convinced that it’s necessary to do so. I know that as a party we took a stand to support government because our leader was appointed minister, but I feel we still needed to remain on the opposition side for the benefit of our party. We have been reduced to mere spectators and it pains me to see that UDF can no longer respond to the President Peter Mutharika’s State of the Nation address. These are the very things I was not happy about and I have been telling my fellow members that we could still support government while seated on opposition benches and our party would still benefit. But when I saw that no one thought I was making sense, I decided to stay put because I believe in the majority of one, especially when I know that that one is right.

Q. You are very close to the former president Bakili Muluzi, father to the current UDF leader, Atupele. Is this your vote of no confidence in his leadership style?
A
I wouldn’t say so; it’s just the highlight of democratic principles that are prevalent in the UDF. The party is democratic and members are allowed to express their views. I have no problems with or personal grudges against that family because I consider it mine. I hold it dearly and it’s the family that taught me politics.

Q
Are you not just bitter that you didn’t get a plum job as Atupele did through the two parties’ partnership?
A. What other job can I ask for apart from being an MP? I am not interested in a ministerial position. Remember, I am a musician and my legislative work even takes much of my time already. As a musician, I lose out on business I am supposed to do every weekend and I wouldn’t really love to go that far because my musical career would die. Mind you, I don’t do music on part-time; I am a full time musician with a history and I can’t quit music even if I was given billions of dollars. My point is that I could support anything, but the move to completely be shut out is what I can’t stomach. I am also convinced that the villagers now know what’s happening after seeing that the UDF didn’t respond to President Mutharika’s address.

Q. Are you not being rebellious?
A. I am not rebelling and if you compare people that have left the benches and me, it’s them who have been rebellious.

Q. In what sense?

A. In the sense that they have left their benches and squeezed themselves into another party, allowing the voice of UDF to die in the chamber and eventually killing the party.

Q. You sound like somebody who loves to court controversy?
A. It depends, but I don’t think I am being controversial here. It’s not in my interest and I have no reason to cause any controversy because I can’t benefit anything from such. I am just a poor MP who happens to love the party dearly and what’s happening isn’t what I agreed with the people who voted for me. My campaign logo was yellow and I wouldn’t want my people to go to bed with yellow and wake up with DPP’s blue. I have spoken to many Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) MPs who also don’t understand why we are going there for. I don’t want to work against my conscience because I feel the way we have been working with the DPP was fine, but for me to completely murder my conscience, for what?

Q.Have you spoken to Atupele Muluzi or the UDF leadership on your move?
A.I spoke to the leadership and I told them that I cannot come with them to the DPP after doing my research and consultations. I prayed and fasted over the matter. Over 90 percent of the people I consulted — pastors that I respect, people I fellowship with, my family, even my smallest son — said no! Unless somebody tells me that there’s something else that hasn’t been told, I am not moving to the DPP side.

Q. What message is your move portraying to the country’s democracy?
A. People must stop being afraid of nothing. President Mutharika himself is well educated, vastly exposed and he knows what democracy is all about. People should be able to follow their principles. Mind you, I have never received as many messages in my life as I have in the past week. I am saddened that in Malawi we have sunk so low that it’s easy to do a bad thing and very difficult to do a good thing. What I did is a good thing but it seems difficult for some people. When a nation looks at doing a good thing as a big joke and a bad thing as good, that generation is accelerating towards doom.

Q. As leader of UDF in Parliament whose members have crossed the floor, how do you expect to work with them and the party in general?
A. The leadership of the UDF has been swallowed up by the government.