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| National |
| Church questions Aford reformers |
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by
Edwin Nyirongo, 11 February 2005
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13:54:12
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Religious leaders have asked Aford leaders who suspended party president Chakufwa Chihana to disclose the roles they played in the mess the party is facing now.
Moses Mkandawire of Church and Society Programme of Livingstonia CCAP Synod said much as he understands that the leadership of Aford was not good, he believes the other group should come in the open and explain the role they played.
“That Chihana was not an able leader is a fact but the blame in the party should be collective because when he was making decisions they were accepting. This made him to believe that what he was doing was generally accepted by the entire executive,” he said.
He said before they broke up, the church used to advise the party on the issues which were going wrong but they never listened.
He said one member of the group that suspended Chihana tabled the third term in Parliament, which was very dangerous to the country as a whole.
“The third term was generally not accepted by the people but they went ahead to move it in Parliament. This gives suspicion as to whether the issue is just to correct what is wrong in the party or personal ambitions,” he said.
The bill, tailored to prolong the rule of former president Bakili Muluzi, was tabled by former Aford MP Khwauli Msiska.
Mkandawire said the Church tried to give the party advice but they ignored it and went ahead to table it. He said the only thing to do here is to disclose the role they played on all this.
“They owe the public explanation so that they know the role they played and what role Chihana played in the third term bill. The people will then judge them on that and know that they are fighting for the right cause,” he said.
Mkandawire said the new Aford leaders should imagine whether they would have dared to remove Chihana from the presidency if the controversial bill had passed. He said Chihana would have had much control and may be as second vice president.
“To say that Chihana was a good leader is to exaggerate things but is the new leader going to uphold democratic principles and make the party gain its lost glory?” he said.
But Father Martin Mtumbuka of the Catholic Church in Mzuzu said it is a mistake to believe that Aford cannot do without Chihana.
He said the new leader would take a different approach on how to run the party after studying what has been taking place in the party for sometime.
“Problems will be there even after Chihana but the approach will be different because the party will put on board new views, vision and put dialogue to practice,” he said.
He agreed with Mkandawire that the leaders that have been left behind caused some of the problems and that they need to say what actually happened and the future for the party.
He said the third term bid, which was denied by the whole country, was championed by Aford.
“There was general perception that Aford was an arrogant party which even the UDF acknowledged during the early days and that it was also aligning itself with people that were careless. A new leader will be able to change this,” he said.
When asked to comment, Aford deputy publicity secretary Khwauli Msiska, who tabled the controversial open terms bill in Parliament, said he would not comment because he does not want to engage himself in a war with the church and does not want to dwell in the past but to look forward.
He, however, said whatever happened in the party had Chihana’s blessing.
“Chihana was directing everything that was happening in the party, but I do not want to dwell on the past,” he said.
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