It is not only Democratic People’s Party MPs that are spending sleepless nights trying to position themselves for political consideration in President Joyce Banda’s People’s Party (PP), Vice-President Khumbo Kachali is also busy pulling the legislators into the fold.
Kachali last week reportedly invited some Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and independent MPs to a meeting that is believed was aimed at coaxing the legislators to join PP so that the now ruling party has the numbers in Parliament.
Kachali on Monday, while confirming the meeting, said it was a private caucus between him and the parliamentarians whose details he could not disclose.
According to DPP MP for Chikhwawa Central Bernadetta Mlaka Maliro, a group of them were called and told that Kachali wanted to meet them at PP offices in Nacholi on Thursday.
She said what Kachali said was basically to sell to them the idea of joining PP and assuring them that there is nothing that would threaten their positions if they did.
Said Maliro: “He said that many of us might be fearing to join PP or support it on the assumption that its existing structures might jeorpadise our positions. He said that PP had not fielded any candidate yet as the party was busy with establishing structures at the grass roots.
“Questions and suggestions were made. Personally, I expressed the need for me to go back to my constituents and chiefs for them to decide which party I should work under because it is these people who elected me. I cannot decide on my own to join PP or work with President Joyce Banda without the input of my constituency even though I would not mind doing so.”
Another DPP MP who attended the meeting was Anna Kachikho of Phalombe West.
When contacted, Kachikho said: “I’m DPP and will remain DPP. I can and will only talk about DPP. Do not ask me about any other party apart from DPP because I do not want to talk about anybody’s camp.”
DPP secretary general Wakuda Kamanga said he was not aware about the meeting but said he only learnt about it from the media.
But he said DPP interim president Peter Mutharika called for his own meeting of their MPs in Lilongwe on Sunday whose agenda was to link up with them and encourage each other after the death of former president Bingu wa Mutharika.
“We met in Lilongwe at an informed meeting and 27 MPs from the Centre and North attended it. We considered this a good attendance considering that the meeting was called at short notice.
“We told them that there was nothing wrong in supporting government without necessarily resigning from their party.” said Kamanga:
