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MCP MP’s to meet over wrangles

Members of Parliament of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) have been called to a meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) where they will air their views on the ongoing leadership wrangles in the opposition party.

This follows a letter which the top executive of the party elected at the 2013 convention, among them vice-president Richard Msowoya and secretary general Gustave Kaliwo, penned the MCP president Lazarus Chakwera, accusing him of flouting the party constitution.

Chakwera allegedly called for a management meeting on Saturday, January 13, 2017, which included directors who the original top brass allege should not be part of the management committee.

Questions over his
leadership: Chakwera

A source within MCP said following the leakage of the letter, MPs expressed strong opinions on their WhatsApp forum and demanded that their voices be heard.

“For the MPs to have their say, the administrator of the group first removed the Speaker Richard Msowoya. Some are agitating for his impeachment for leading the confusion that is prevalent in the party,” he said.

He said it was after the sentiments were discussed that the party Chief Whip in Parliament Lobin Lowe proposed that a meeting be held.

While Lowe’s numbers could not be reached, his deputy Clement Mlombwa confirmed being delegated to call for the Tuesday meeting.

The agenda, according to Mlombwa, was to allow the MPs to state their position on the ongoing wrangles and chart the way forward.

He refused to confirm reports that the impeachment of the Speaker was among the positions already stated by the MPs on their WhatsApp forum.

“The Speaker is an MCP MP and vice-president. If there are disagreements in the party, the president has advised us that dialogue is the best way. I do not think it can get to that level [impeachment of Speaker],” Mlombwa said.

However, he confirmed that the Speaker had been invited to the meeting which will take place at 9am at the party headquarters in Lilongwe.

“People will be free to express their views at the meeting,” Mlombwa emphasised when probed further on the impeachment calls.

The coming in of MCP MPs into the fray could further complicate matters in the party already attempting to recover from divisions which saw the secretary general agitating for a convention to formalise the appointment of certain directors while another camp insisted that the president and national executive committee (NEC) were mandated at the 2013 convention at Natural Resources College to make appointments.

Among the positions which were effected unprocedurally are those of Eisenhower Mkaka as deputy secretary general and Rhino Chiphiko replacing Tony Kandiero as treasurer general.

A December 1, 2017 meeting which tried to heal the breach between the two sides was the basis of the letter which Msowoya, second deputy president Macdonald Lombola, Kaliwo, deputy secretary general James Kaunda and Kandiero authored accusing Chakwera of going against his own words and flouting the party constitution.

Commenting on the new developments, political commentator Ernest Thindwa told Nation on Sunday yesterday that the endless infighting in MCP was an indication of a leadership lacking direction.

The Chancellor College-based political scientist faulted Chakwera’s style of leadership which has failed to harmonise the two warring factions and instead is fanning the flames by calling for a meeting excluding other senior members of the NEC.

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