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| National |
| MCP meet throws out Ntaba |
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by
Joseph Langa, 10 November 2003
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10:55:23
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Suspended MCP publicity secretary Hetherwick Ntaba was Friday booted out of the party’s National Executive Committee (Nec) meeting in Lilongwe because he is now an ordinary member of the party.
The meeting, held at party president John Tembo’s house, was attended by almost the entire Nec except second vice president Peter Chiwona and the party’s two legal advisors Louis Chimango and his deputy Edwin Banda.
The meeting was called to discuss several issues among them, primary elections and the on going coalition talks with other opposition parties, the party’s director of elections Jodder Kanjere said on Sunday.
Ntaba said in an interview on Sunday, his marching orders came barely 15 minutes into the meeting after Central Region chair Betson Majoni raised the issue which led to a heated debate that ended with a decision that Ntaba no longer belongs to the Nec.
Ntaba expressed surprise over the decision to remove him from the party’s elite body, claiming he was still a Nec member because “no resolution was made anywhere among the party officials to have him dismissed from his position” and he hasn’t received any letter to that effect.
MCP deputy secretary general and administrative secretary Kate Kainja, who is mandated to speak to the press on matters of administration, confirmed that Ntaba was told to leave the Nec meeting on Friday because “he is not part of Nec following his suspension as publicity secretary”.
Kainja said Ntaba was aware that he is no longer in the Nec because he was given the minutes of the previous Nec meeting that made the decision to suspend him following his involvement with President Bakili’s mother whom he gave medical advice and arranged for surgery in South Africa.
“We are in the executive because of the positions and the roles that we have in the party. Hon Ntaba was in the Nec because he was publicity secretary. Now that he is no longer publicity secretary—he cannot be in the Nec. He should be aware about that.
“We said what he did was a conflict of interest and we asked him to choose between his medical profession and his position in the party and he chose the other option,” said Kainja.
Asked why Ntaba was not officially communicated to about his removal from the Nec Kainja said laughing: “Why a letter! He was given the minutes of the resolutions which he took part in drafting. In fact if he needed a letter he would have written it himself because he was part of the committee drafting the resolutions that saw his suspension.”
Asked what he would do with the recent development in his party, which he described as an equivalent of a dismissal, Ntaba was noncommittal, saying he will either wait patiently or seek legal action on the matter.
“MCP is not individuals, MCP is an organisation. It is actually people in the villages. Those are the people that I would really be concerned about if they voted me out. This move has not been done at a convention. It has not been done by true owners of the party,” said Ntaba.
Meanwhile, the Nec has agreed that it will hold parliamentary primary elections in all constituencies in two phases starting with areas where the party is not represented and ending with areas where they have sitting MPs, according to Kanjere.
Kanjere also said the Nec has endorsed its commitment to coalition talks that are currently going on with other opposition parties.
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