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Some Malawi Congress Party (MCP) executive members, Members of Parliament (MPs) and district officials are holding undercover meetings throughout the country, plotting to remove their leader John Tembo at an emergency convention they will begin to demand shortly, a senior party official has said.
Tembo declined to give his comments on the issues raised in this story.
“I am not ready for an interview on those issues,” said Tembo.
An executive member from the South, who is coordinating the activities of the group, said the removal will be sought if Tembo fails to exonerate himself from queries against his leadership, which will be put forward to him.
“I think at this stage it is better not to say who we think would take over once Tembo is removed. You know the history of our politics since 1964. It is not good to expose people,” said the official. “But when you plan a coup you also work on an exit strategy.”
An MP responsible for logistics said the group took this route after dialogue failed to resolve concerns about Tembo’s style of leadership.
“Meetings have been held, letters have been written, calls have been made on him to explain some of these things and change his management style but nothing has worked,” said the MP. “Everyone who tries to oppose his policies is labelled a confusionist. This is the reason we think a convention is the best option to take. I do not think this comes as a surprise to anyone who has been following events in the MCP. This is just the climax.”
Added the MP from the Centre who was also among the 39 MPs who wrote Tembo in December, protesting his style of leadership: “In a caucus of MPs we are never free, if you decide to meet him on one-to-one he just lambasts you. Ask people like [Lilongwe Msinja North MP Bintony] Kutsaira. I do not even think people who remain in the National Executive Committee can challenge him. So, the convention is the best place because he cannot shout or intimidate over a thousand people in a convention.”
Article 40 of the MCP constitution says an emergency convention can be summoned if two thirds of the National Executive Committee, or if half of the District Committee members resolve to do so. MCP has 40 political districts.
And Article 37 of the same constitution says the party convention “may remove the President from office before lapse of the period for which he or she was elected if he or she wilfully and persistently disobeys the constitution.
“The resolution to remove such an officer shall be by a majority of not less than two thirds of the delegates by secret ballot. The process of removal shall be in accordance with the rules of natural justice,” reads the article, adding that the same convention must elect a new president.
Another executive member from the Centre said the group wanted Tembo to explain his association and dealings with UDF national chair Bakili Muluzi, from supporting the Open Terms Bill and President Bingu wa Mutharika’s impeachment to Muluzi buying cloth for MCP.
“He must state where he got the mandate to enter into those deals. Did the National Executive Committee discuss the issue or he acted unilaterally?” said executive member. “This query is coming from the fact that Article 29 of our party constitution says ‘the control and management of the party and its operation shall be vested in the National Executive Committee’.”
A district party chairman from the North who is also a member of the group, accused Tembo of failure to keep promises made during his campaign for the party presidency. He alleged that Tembo promised to buy party officials vehicles, bicycles and give them monthly allowances. Another district chairman from the Centre alleged that Tembo said he would provide party officials with cloth on a regular basis if he won the party presidency.
An MP who claimed to have been in Tembo’s campaign team alleged that Tembo promised to ensure proper and transparent management and equitable distribution of party funds to the party’s structures. “All these things have not happened,” said the MP. “As we speak, maybe only a privileged few know how the K4.8 million [ about $37,000] quarterly funding from Parliament is used but the rest of us are in the dark.
“This is in violation of Article 53 of our party constitution which says ‘no monies collected in the name of the party or in the name of any of its branches or committees shall be expended without the approval, in writing, of the National Executive Committee.”
An official from MCP regional committee in the South said the committee is in the dark about how money raised through rental of MCP regional headquarters at Chichiri in Blantyre is used.
“Since we [in the South] never used to get subvention from the parliamentary funding after Tembo became leader of the opposition, we thought of renting out some of the party offices in Blantyre to raise money for our activities, including payment of allowances to district officials in the region.. We used to get about K600,000 [$4,600] from renting the regional offices.
“When he became president [in 2004] he directed that the money be deposited in the party’s main account for proper management. To date, we do not know what this money is used for,” said the official, claiming that Blantyre district officials threatened to quit if Tembo also took away rental from Blantyre District MCP offices at the Clock Tower.
The group’s coordinator also said Tembo should explain why Lilongwe Central MP and Central Region chairman Betson Majoni is countersigning the party’s cheques? “Is this because Majoni is his loyalist?” he questioned.
Majoni declined to comment on the allegations. “You are not being credible pressmen, so I am not going to answer you,” he said.
Article 54 of the party constitution says all cheques “shall bear two signatures of the President or the Deputy President and be countersigned by the Treasurer General or the Deputy Secretary General.”
An MP from the Centre accused Tembo of letting the party die in the North and South by only addressing meetings in the Centre. The MP also said Tembo should explain why he is failing to manage differences in the party, resorting to intimidating and threatening people with dissenting views, instead.
“He must explain what he has done so far to repair the damage created by the resignation and subsequent joining of government by Kate Kainja. He must state what he has done to solve his problem with Kutsaira and Kalebe. He must also say why we lost Peter Chiwona, and what he is doing to prevent more officials [from] leaving the party,” he said, also accusing Tembo of practising favouritism.
“Take Hon. [Respicious] Dzanjalimodzi, for example, why are almost all key positions going to him?” said the MP. “He is shadow minister of finance, administrative secretary of the party, representative of the party to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Sadc Parliamentary Forum, and on the Privatisation Commission board and now he has been given another responsibility in the Centre for Multiparty Democracy. Is this because Dzanjalimodzi also comes from Dedza?”
Dzanjalimodzi, chair of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, is at the moment in Melbourne, Australia, attending a workshop which ends on February 16, 2005, courtesy of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
Asked when the group wants the convention to be held, its coordinator said they would prefer to meet after the next sitting of Parliament in April.
“I think the National Assembly would provide more opportunities to MPs to touch base and refine some ideas,” said the project coordinator.
“These things will be properly documented and submitted to him. He must not say he was not given an opportunity to be heard. We must not fail to query our leader for fear that he will accuse us of being used by other political parties.”
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