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Umodzi Party (UP) President Professor John Chisi has warned Malawians against undemocratic tendencies being practiced by Dr. Lazarus Chakwera of the main Malawi Congress Party (MCP) ahead of the 2019 polls.
The warning follow rumours hovering on the social media indicating that MCP Vice President Richard Msowoya who is also Speaker of the National Assembly has been suspended for questioning Chakwera’s leadership style.
The rumours also say that the Party’s General Secretary Gustav Kaliwo has been fired from the Party for allegedly bringing confusion.
Writing on his official facebook page Chisi said writings are on the wall.
“In the past few weeks I have been warning you of MCP and Chakwera and I have gotten the stick for it. That is ok because I must acknowledge that the circumstances under which I made these claims and the manner in which I made them may not have suited well with most. For that I must apologise but the writing on the wall in now clear: Chakwera is a man without integrity or honesty all of which are manifested in his bullying manner and no care for rule of the law or protocol.
“This man has just reportedly fired his VP after so much of an intra party feud. Does he have the powers to do so? Not at all. My understanding is that only a convention can remove from power the president, VP or NEC members. If Chakwera has fired his VP it’s either because he doesn’t know his own party’s constitution or he just doesn’t care about the law,” wrote Chisi
Below is Chisi’s statement;
BEWARE OF UNDEMOCRATIC TENDENCIES: THE CASE OF CHAKWERA AND MCP
Most of you may not remember what dictatorship was like under Kamuzu. Those of us of the old know it; we lived it and if you ask any of the people that lived in that time, you will be told unequivocally “I would never go back to that time”. That’s why when Chihana and Co decided to stand up to the dictator, they had the support of every Malawian.
We got democracy and we have a democratic constitution; our people have freedom and rights which are protected by the constitution and they are expected to be the government. The saying goes that “we are the government”. How true that is, is a million dollar question.
In the past few weeks I have been warning you of MCP and Chakwera and I have gotten the stick for it. That is ok because I must acknowledge that the circumstances under which I made these claims and the manner in which I made them may not have suited well with most. For that I must apologise but the writing on the wall in now clear: Chakwera is a man without integrity or honesty all of which are manifested in his bullying manner and no care for rule of the law or protocol.
This man has just reportedly fired his VP after so much of an intra party feud. Does he have the powers to do so? Not at all. My understanding is that only a convention can remove from power the president, VP or NEC members. If Chakwera has fired his VP it’s either because he doesn’t know his own party’s constitution or he just doesn’t care about the law
Why did he want to fire his VP? Is it because he is a northerner and he wants Mia who comes from the south? We all don’t know: but young men on Facebook, is this a man and a party you can trust with the role of a nation’s leadership? I will leave you to answer that.
I’m not a saint either and you have a right to judge me. We have all suffered under the DPP and we have choice to make in 2019. But our frustration with DPP shouldn’t be a mandidate to make MCP the automatic choice- if they want to win , they have a choice to make at the convention which must get rid of Chakwera. Elsewhere, 2019 must be a change election- if you decide, it is possible to give power to a new , small party with better ideas. I don’t know If we are ready to do that but my plea is let’s never give power to people that have shown us undesirable demeanour. We must make the right decision for 2019.
God bless you all and enjoy your day,
Prof John Chisi
