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| National |
| Bingu garners chiefs’ support |
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by
Pilirani Semu-Banda and Francis Tayanjah-Phiri, 10 February 2005
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11:08:51
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President Bingu wa Mutharika on Wednesday met key chiefs from his home Thyolo to continue laying the foundation for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) which he is scheduled to launch next week.
Mutharika, who on Tuesday met 26 independent Members of Parliament (MPs) at Zomba State House to ask them to join his new party, also met the chiefs at the same venue.
A source said the delegation of chiefs, most of whom were from Mutharika’s Thyolo East constituency, was led by Traditional Authority (TA) Chimaliro and sub-chief Nanseta.
The source said during the meeting, Mutharika told the chiefs that he will revive the issue of the Senate in the National Assembly and will ensure that its leader comes from Thyolo.
The establishment of the Senate has failed in the country over the past 10 years despite being enshrined in the Constitution.
“All members of the delegation were given K10,000 ($92) each and were told that they will be beneficiaries of the K1 billion loan scheme,” said the source.
Thyolo District Commissioner Charles Thombozi confirmed the meeting between the President and the chiefs.
“Of course I know that the chiefs have been to Zomba. In fact a minibus was hired for the trip and payment came from the State House,” said Thombozi.
But he said the chiefs went there as a response to a request they made when Mutharika toured Thyolo last month.
When he met the independent MPs on Tuesday, Mutharika also told them that he is ready to work with them and provide them with loans to boost their constituencies.
Commenting on Mutharika’s move to form his own party, UDF spokesman Sam Mpasu said this vindicates his party’s sentiments that Mutharika has been forming parallel structures to “hijack the UDF”.
“He wanted to turn the UDF into his own party. Now people know the truth and we’ve been vindicated. We will now be treating him as our competitor,” said Mpasu.
Meanwhile, chiefs in the country have said the rift between Mutharika and the UDF has disappointed the masses who had high expectations that government would smoothly carry out development in their areas.
In separate interviews, senior chief Kaomba of Kasungu and chief Kwataine of Ntcheu stressed politicians have to think about people at the grassroots level.
Kaomba said it was unfortunate that the UDF had chosen to frustrate and wage a silent war on a person they tirelessly campaigned for and lured votes from the Malawian masses.
Said Kaomba: “People are disappointed as they had obviously hoped that the UDF would be in the forefront of supporting the President, yet it is to the contrary and people are shocked. The fact is that masses in the villages want is development. It is not surprising that most of them have preferred to support Mutharika even without the UDF party structures.”
But Kwataine advises both Mutharika and Muluzi to do away with their personal differences and think of local Malawians in the villages, who stood to suffer if the rift sparks more political tension for the country.
Said Kwataine: “Of course currently we have not felt the pangs of their differences, but obviously if the rift gets wider, it could spill over to the masses in form of conflict. When elephants fight, it is grass that suffers, hence it would be wise for our leaders to bear that in mind.”
He advised the UDF to ponder a bit on the consequences of frustrating their own person as President, while government should not sacrifice political strength, which could be ideal for mobilising development.
Kaomba, who spearheaded Muluzi’s campaign for a third term, vowed he would always support Mutharika to carry out what he thinks are viable programmes.
Mpasu rebutted speculations that his boss was planning to use chiefs to frustrate his successor.
Said Mpasu: “That is nonsense, why should the national chair dish money on those chiefs when his supporters need the same? What contribution can those chiefs have on the party? Maybe if the chiefs were from Machinga where the chair comes from there could be reason, but Mzimba or those other regions, why, what would such a thing yield for him?”
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