MCP ‘NEC’ backs major

 Some Malawi Congress Party (MCP) national executive committee (NEC) members have described the arrest of one of its members, Alex Major, who purportedly authored a statement challenging the party leadership as “tantamount to gagging”.

Major, who is former Kasungu West legislator, was locked up at Lingadzi Police Station Friday morning before being released in the evening.

In an interview yesterday MCP publicity secretary Maurice Munthali while acknowledging that police are by law allowed to make arrests, said the arrest and detention without charges may instil fear in Malawians from expressing dissenting views.

He said: “We always want to see Malawians freely expressing their views without being threatened. Freedom of speech is the birth right of all, but of course, it has to be done with corresponding responsibilities. What happened to Major may be tantamount to gagging.”

Munthali added that Major’s arrest and subsequent release without being charged is a threat to the rule of law on which MCP is built.

Major’s lawyer Sylvester Ayuba James, in an interview on Friday, indicated that his client was arrested in connection with a statement he authored on Thursday this week as publicity secretary of concerned members of MCP known as ‘Second Liberation of Malawi Nation’.

The grouping is challenging MCP leadership to make some changes in how it is governing the country, including firing some officials at State House.

An impeccable source confided in Nation on Sunday that Major was arrested because some of the officials at State House, who were mentioned in the statement, went to complain to police, claiming that they were receiving threats following the letter by Major.

Said the source: “This arrest had nothing to do with the President, government or MCP. This is an issue to do with certain individuals who felt aggrieved by the letter and asked for police action.”

Some of the people mentioned in the Major’s letter are Secretary to President and Cabinet (SPC) Zanga-Zanga Chikhosi; State House chief of staff Prince Kampondamgaga; chief adviser on public policy Samson Lembani; financial director Gideon Kalumbu and the President’ss executive assistant Sean Kampondeni,

In an interview after his release, Major said he will not relent on speaking out on some of the concerns of his group towards President Chakwera’s leadership style.

He said the party leadership seems to have delinked itself from the membership, “a development that apparently has left some party loyalists demoralised”.

Asked on the position of the party’s NEC on the sentiments by the new grouping, Munthali welcomed the movement’s views, saying if the ideas being advanced will serve interests of the nation, uplift lives of Malawians as well as guide the President, then they need to be refined and Chakwera will eventually listen.

He said MCP, as a democratic party, will not frustrate any dissenting views meant to benefit the party and the nation, but he was quick to advise members of the movement not to operate in secrecy.

Said Munthali: “Openness in such things is important. President Chakwera believes in institutions and that wisdom of many put together helps. So, the earlier they can share what the group is thinking and planning, the better, because many times others regretted for not sharing their ideas which could have benefitted the party.”

Among others, the movement wants Chakwera to call for a NEC meeting, reshuffle Cabinet, immediately recall all diplomats as well as clear the rubble in statutory corporations and government department

 and agencies (MDAs).

Commenting on the developments, Boniface Dulani, one of the political scientists at Chancellor College, observed that Chakwera has been moving at a slow pace in getting things done.

He said: “The frustration with the slow pace is a genuine concern. Things needed to be done at a faster pace so that people could see that the administration is moving away from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) way of doing things.

“At the pace we are moving, the current administration may not be able to deliver on the things they promised. The thing is, should we have to judge this government with only a few months in power, it’s a tough environment out there with Covid-19 and a dwindling public resource.”

However, Dulani, added that it was almost impossible for the President to please everyone and; therefore, asked Chakwera to listen and decide if what is being suggested is worth acting on based on the interest to serve the country well.

“MCP has waited for a quarter of century to get into government and now they see remnants of DPP still benefiting in the new administration. Expectations were very high, but the reality is Chakwera can only please very few, and others will be displeased,” he said.

Meanwhile, Association of Former members of Parliament (AFMP) has condemned police for the arrest of Major.

In an interview yesterday, chairperson of the association, which is a grouping of all former MPs since the dawn of independence, Clement Stambuli, said the police action smacked of

 intimidation and has no room in a multiparty dispensation.intimidation and has no room in

But Stambuli wondered as to whether the issues raised in the letter were seditious to warrant an arrest.

“Does it mean if a member of the United Democratic Front [UDF] was to write a letter challenging president Atupele Muluzi or if another person was to challenge the DPP president, then we should expect the police to arrest such people? This is very undemocratic and as an association, we condemn it in the strongest terms,” he said.

And, in a related development, the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (Cdedi) has also called on President Chakwera to exonerate himself from allegations levelled against him by the Second Liberation of the Malawi Nation.

In a statement released yesterday, Cdedi urges Chakwera to exonerate himself from the assertions.

“We commend the MCP grouping for their courage by holding the bull by its horns, and we further encourage all well-meaning Malawians to join this noble task of getting the Tonse Alliance administration back on track, before the goodwill that Malawians have for the new administration wanes off,” reads part of the statement signed by the organisation’s interim leader Sylvester Namiwa.