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| National |
| Khamisa wants Aleke, Malewezi back |
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by
Pilirani Semu-Banda, 31 December 2004
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12:01:46
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Deputy minister of natural resources Bob Khamisa said on Thursday the UDF would be strengthened and the divisions would be less if former Vice President Justin Malewezi and People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) president Aleke Banda were to be enticed back into the party.
Ever since President Bingu wa Mutharika took over the reins of power from UDF party chair Bakili Muluzi, there has been a growing rift between the two and two camps have emerged in the party.
Khamisa was speaking at a UDF Thyolo district committee meeting aimed at uniting the party following divisions that have erupted in Mutharika’s Thyolo East constituency where there are reports that members of the district committee are campaigning against the UDF candidate for the January parliamentary by-elections in favour of an independent candidate.
The deputy minister said the UDF is moving towards doom because there is a tug-of-war among its leaders and members of the party which has extended to Thyolo.
“I am crying for this area because it’s where the President comes from. If we continue like this, we won’t have a president from the UDF in 2009,” said Khamisa.
He said people in the villages are getting confused because of what is going on in the UDF and warned that if the party continues imposing parliamentary candidates on people, the party will have “very few MPs” in 2009.
Khamisa said people in the district thronged to Aleke Banda’s rallies which he recently held.
“In the President’s constituency, [Foster] Mlumbe was imposed on the people and that could be the cause of the problems in the area now. [Patricia] Kaliati who is heading the campaign team does not come from Thyolo. I wish Phillip Bwanali was still an MP because he would have worked hard to help me strengthen this district,” said Khamisa.
UDF district governess for Thyolo Mary Bisani said Kaliati removed the district committee from the campaign team in the president’s constituency and that caused all the problems.
District treasurer Manford Kutchide said no UDF slogan is being used in the campaign for the ruling party in the area.
A Young Democrat in the district Evans Mitawa said Mlumbe is unlikely to win because the campaign team “is lying” to the people that they will be given things such as maize and fertiliser.
Kaliati did not attend the meeting and Khamisa indicated that she had told him that she was held up in other duties.
When Nation Online tried to contact Kaliati, her cellular phone was out of reach but she said in an earlier interview on Wednesday the district committee members are bitter because they wanted to use the campaign money for personal needs such as cultivating gardens and that she has refused to continue giving them the money after she gave them an initial K500 each.
Asked to comment if the UDF would get Malewezi and Banda as suggested by Khamisa, the party spokesman Salule Masangwi said the party policy is an open-door policy and that the two leaders would be welcome.
He, however, said the divisions in the party are being caused by individuals and that Malewezi and Banda would not change the situation.
“It will be a welcome move if they were to come back,” said Masangwi.
Reports from Mutharika’s constituency indicate that the UDF candidate Mlumbe is struggling to get people’s support in the area to vote for him as he does not have the support of any UDF guru but Mutharika and Kaliati.
The party is reported to be supporting independent candidate Babu Khamisa, a nephew to deputy minister of natural resources Bob Khamisa.
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