Mutharika accuses JB of assassination plot
Fired-up President Peter Mutharika yesterday tore apart his arrest on treason charges under the Joyce Banda administration as a “concoction and total rubbish” and further claimed an assassination attempt was made on his life while in police custody.
Addressing a political rally for his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) at Masintha ground in Lilongwe, Mutharika further dismissed as untrue claims by former Malawi Defence Force (MDF) commander General Henry Odillo that he had requested him to take over government following the death of his departed brother and former president Bingu wa Mutharika.
Following revelations of Commission of Inquiry into the death of the late Bingu who died in April 2012 after suffering a cardiac arrest, Peter was arrested alongside several Cabinet ministers for allegedly plotting to stop then estranged vice-president Joyce Banda from ascending to power.
Said Mutharika: “The Attorney General then, the chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry [into events surrounding the death of the late Bingu] came from same village. It was a concoction and total rubbish.”
The Attorney General at the time was Anthony Kamanga and the commission was chaired by Justice Elton Singini.
The commission alleged that Mutharika asked Odillo at a meeting alongside then chief secretary to the Government Bright Msaka to take over government, but Mutharika described the alleged discussion as a lie.
He said he was ready to dispute Odillo’s version of events in court, saying he was only speaking about the events today as he was previously under a gag order from the courts stopping the treason suspects from commenting on the case.
He further alleged that while in police custody at Lumbadzi Police Station, the party’s youth supporters foiled an assassination attempt after a doctor sent by the State House was apprehended by party supporters.
A visibly angry Mutharika also defended his administration’s recent dismissals of senior public officials, saying some of the officers have been reallocated within government to pave way for the Cashgate investigation.
“I never said I will not remove anyone from public office; I said I will never remove anyone from public office for political reasons. And no one has been fired from office, they have just been relocated. You told me that I should fight Cashgate, we cannot have a proper audit and investigation while they are in office,” he said.
Mutharika also moved to ease tensions within the party, saying he was aware that some senior members were unhappy after being left out of his 18-man strong Cabinet and also justified his decision to announce that he will contest in 2019, saying the party was being torn apart by internal succession strife.
APM claims there was a gag order stopping him from discussing the case, conveniently leaving out the small matter that now he is immune from prosecution. The fact is that the coup unfolded in broad daylight, living very little room for APM to start lying now. These Bingu thugs really make me sick! But then, we’re a failed state, and APM was the “best of the worst” during the rigged elections.
My advice to APM is that do not waste time defending the indefensible, you have a mammoth task to convince Malawians that no more people will die from this second round of Zero deficit budget. We had one before during the time of your elder brother the results of which Malawians are yet to forget.
We need drugs in hospitals, better roads, better houses for every one including our police and teachers. We need govt to pay salaries on time.
It is a waste of govt money to turn a development rally into a cheap propaganda political rally.
Crazy leadership! How then can we believe the assassination plot? Isn’t it a “concoction and total rubbish” as well? Some things need to be left to die a natural death instead of defending the indefensible. DPP leadership acted emotionally during the death of our president Bingu (RIP) and it was evident to many who followed the issue. Otherwise the more the president talks about this treason case the more we will believe that he knows more than the public do about the extent of his involvement in what really seem to be a treason case.
Judgemental opinions by commentators pure impoverished reasoning. Whatever does not resonate with your prejudices is worthless, even if you have no facts to counter it. Why do you comment?
I for one would rather believe APM than Odillo et al. O’dillos statements were never tested in a court of law; probably, even in the court of public opinion, APM wins, hands down. Some people simply wade into a discussion about APM because they dislike the man, wholesale and personally. Even though they have never interacted with him in any way. Notwithstanding, they will chastise him on issues outside policy.
Let them breath in the dust left behind by the speeding DPP engine!
Even the average Malawian on the street can distinguish a legit argument from an irrelevant one.