Estranged Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice-president (South) Kondwani Nankhumwa, secretary general Greselder Jeffrey and treasurer general on Monday boycotted a central executive committee meeting.
The three central executive committee members were invited on September 25 to a party meeting at Page House, the former president Peter Mutharika’s residence in Mangochi.
However, Nankhumwa Jeffrey and Mhango, who alongside treasurer stayed away from the meeting.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mulanje West legislator Yusuf Nthenda, who was fired from DPP alongside the trio, said they wrote Mutharika requesting for a meeting in August, but he did not respond to them; hence, the decision to shun the Monday meeting.
He said the DPP, which reversed the decision to fire them in August this year after the four dragged the party to court, has been playing tricks on them and questioned the decision to reverse their expulsion.
Said Nthenda: “We really want to meet the party president before we start doing anything. In court we are praying for so many reliefs, but they just picked one issue which is reversing the expulsion.
The four have raised 10 issues in the case against their expulsion from the party, including holding of a mid-term convention as stipulated under Article 8 (4) of the DPP constitution.
Article 9 (2) of the DPP constitution stipulates that members of the central committee are the party president, vice-presidents, secretary general, treasurer general and national directors of women and youth.
The article says the party president may also invite a member of the national governing council to the meeting, where the administrative secretary also serves as secretary to the committee.
Nthenda said if the DPP wanted the matter discussed amicably and out of court, there was a legal way of doing it, like signing a consent order, but that can only happen if the parties meet and agree on certain terms.
But in an interview, DPP spokesperson Shadric Namalomba said it was wrong to target Mutharika, insisting all decisions are made by the whole central executive committee not an individual.
“Insisting that they meet the [party] president alone is not in order,” he said.
On outcomes of the Monday meeting, Namalomba said the central executive committee resolved to participate in the forthcoming October 26 by-elections and also considered the Functional Review report.
DPP lost in the court-ordered fresh presidential election on June 23 2020. Mutharika took over DPP leadership after the death of his elder brother Bingu in April 2012, propelling the party to victory in the 2014 Tripartite Elections. n
