Why Chilima, APM met

Details have emerged that President Peter Mutharika met Vice-President Saulos Chilima on Monday after Chilima rebuffed a presidential delegation assigned to coerce him to make a statement on the apparent divisions in the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Sources familiar with the developments confided in  Nation Online that the President last week sent three Cabinet ministers—Goodall Gondwe (Finance, Economic Planning and Development), Samuel Tembenu (Justice and Constitutional Affairs) and Bright Msaka (Education, Science and Technology)—to ask Chilima to dismiss the so-called Chilima Movement canvassing for his candidacy as potential DPP presidential torchbearer in the May 2019 Tripartite Elections.

One source said the delegation, which met Chilima last week Tuesday at his official residence in Lilongwe’s Area 12, reported back to Mutharika that the Vice-President refused to act on any of the issues they put on the table, including a guarantee that he will be Mutharika’s running mate on DPP ticket as was the case in the May 20 2014 Tripartite Elections.

Said the source: “Instead, the Vice-President is said to have asked the three ministers to arrange a meeting between him and the President to map the way forward. That is the meeting that took place on Monday this week.”

The revelations, which Nation Online has corroborated with other sources, come against the background of social media speculation on Monday that Mutharika had “summoned” his Vice-President to apologise for his remarks at Mphelere Parish in Ntchisi that there was rampant corruption in government.

Privately-owned Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) on Tuesday also quoted its sources as stating that Mutharika had summoned Chilima over the remarks in Ntchisi.

During Mphelere Parish Feast Day on Saturday, Chilima said: “Tiyeni tizuzule mchitidwe wakuba. Tiyeni tisiye kuombera m’manja anthu akuba. Anthu akuba mubomamu akuyika miyoyo ya anthu ena pa chiopsyezo. Zafika poyipa kwambiri ndipo pochititsa manyazi. Mankhwala muzipatala kubedwa. Kuba kozunza aMalawi. Izi ndi zija mumazapeza kuti band yagawanapo zida chifukwa zanyanya. [Let us condemn corruption in the government system. Theft of public resources and corruption are putting innocent lives at risk. It’s so embarrassing and frustrating. Inaction leads to frustration and people going their separate ways].”

During the Monday meeting at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre, another source said, the President and the Vice-President met behind closed doors for over an hour.

The sources said while they were not privy to the discussion, the agenda was likely the issues the President had earlier delegated the three Cabinet ministers to discuss with Chilima.

Efforts to get a comment from the presidential emissaries proved futile as Gondwe’s phone was out of reach whereas Msaka did not pick after being called eight times.

Tembenu, on the other hand, asked that he be called after an hour and later said he was driving and would call back. However, as we went to press, he had not called back.

But presidential press secretary Mgeme Kalirani confirmed about the Monday meeting and described it as normal.

He said: “I can confirm that the VP came to see the President. Actually, this is not the first time he [the Vice-President] has come to meet the President. Every time he wants to see the President he comes.”

Kalirani said there was nothing peculiar about the meeting as the two were serving in the Presidency as President and Vice-President, respectively, and meet to discuss government business.

Minister of Information and Communications Technology Nicholas Dausi, who is also the official government spokesperson, also wondered why the public was describing the meeting as summoning.

He said: “The two meet time and again, so I wonder why this particular meeting is being portrayed that the President summoned the Vice-President. Putting it that when the two meet then one has summoned another is wrong. Shouldn’t they be discussing?”

Revelations about the presidential delegation to the Vice-President come barely weeks after three DPP officials—Mulanje West member of Parliament (MP) Patricia Kaliati who is also DPP national director of women, Blantyre City East MP Noel Masangwi and national director of youth Louis Ngalande—refused to denounce the Chilima Movement at a meeting at Sanjika attended by the President, Lhomwe Paramount Chief Ngolongoliwa and entrepreneur and Mulhako wa Alhomwe chairperson Leston Mulli.

Mutharika, 79, is facing an unprecedented resistance for an incumbent—eligible for a second term as per the Malawi Constitution—from some DPP members canvassing for the candidacy of Chilima, 45. In 2014, Mutharika picked Chilima as his running mate from the private sector where he served as Airtel Malawi managing director.

Former first lady Callista Mutharika—widow of DPP founding president and the incumbent President’s elder brother, Bingu wa Mutharika—sparked the succession debate weeks ago when she said her in-law should pave the way for the comparatively youthful and energetic Chilima widely seen as a hands-on and results-oriented leader after he vibrantly led the Public Sector Reforms Programme that has lost steam since it was moved from his domain.

Mutharika has declared he will lead DPP in the elections while Chilima has remained silent on calls for him to vie for the presidency.