The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) national governing council (NGC) today agreed to shift the venue of its convention from Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe to Blantyre amid a heated debate over a proposal by some of the members to let interim president Peter Mutharika go unopposed.
One of the NGC members who attended the meeting confided in The Nation that although the meeting in the end agreed on most of the issues, there were initial disagreements over the proposal to have Mutharika go unchallenged.
“Some of those who proposed this argued that to avoid confusion, we should uphold what the party initially agreed by endorsing Mutharika as an automatic candidate for the party. However, this was eventually shot down by most of the members,” said the member.
However, in an interview, party acting secretary general Allan Chiyembekeza said no one made such a proposal, but that some members were just making reference to previous resolutions of the party.
Apart from the venue, the meeting also approved the proposed K500 000 (about $1 250) nomination fees for those aspiring for the position of party president with those vying for the vice-presidency required to pay K250 000 (about $625).
Mutharika was among the attendees whereas his known challenger, Speaker of National Assembly Henry Chimunthu Banda, was not present as he is reported to be in Namibia on official duty.—Read full report in Friday’s Edition of The Nation.
