Chihana in contempt of court over alliance with PP—Aford

The Godfrey Shawa camp of the Alliance for Democracy (Aford) has accused Enoch Chihana of being in contempt of court by declaring that the party is in alliance with the People’s Party (PP) of President Joyce Banda.

The camp has since said it is consulting its lawyer to file for contempt charges.

Chihana told MBC television on Tuesday that Aford is in alliance with PP and as leader of the party, he thought that was the right decision for the party where it has been in a number of alliances.

He told MBC TV that the fact that he is a Cabinet minister is the true manifestation that the party is in alliance with the PP.

But in reaction to the development, spokesperson of another Aford camp, Dan Msowoya, denied that the party is in alliance with PP.

He accused Chihana of disregarding the court order that restrained him from transacting business as president of the party.

“So it is a lie that Aford is in alliance with PP and Chihana might be doing that because he is more of PP than Aford. We have started preparing contempt charges because there is a court order,” said Msowoya.

PP deputy spokesperson Ken Msonda said his party is in a working relationship with Aford.

“What we know is that PP is in working alliance with Aford. If there is a problem with that, then it’s an internal issue within Aford,” he said.

Chihana could not pick his phone, after several attempts, to comment on the other camp’s rejection of the alliance.

In September last year, the High Court in Mzuzu stopped Chihana and his committee from transacting business in Aford’s name.

Aford was supposed to hold a convention, but the meeting degenerated into chaos after Chihana had questioned the presence of National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) leader Loveness Gondwe.

Some senior party members and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) staff who were hired to preside over the elections left the convention venue.

Chihana and others remained and went ahead with the convention where he was elected as president. But Godfrey Shawa went to court to obtain an injunction which was granted.