Date Of Article: 3/27/2003
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NDA rejects OPC permission
By: Gedion Munthali
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has rejected permission from the Office of the President and Cabinet to use the word “national” because the go-ahead was given verbally. NDA Director of Publicity Salule Masangwi said on Tuesday the pressure group, which has been pressing for OPC permission in order to register into a political party, will not honour the verbal communication. “I have been told by the Vice President (Viva Nyimba) that OPC communication came verbally,” said Masangwi. “But we will not process our registration based on verbal communication. These are legal matters, and they cannot be based on word of mouth.” He said his pressure group will still press OPC for written permission. “With due respect, OPC should be aware that you cannot communicate verbally on matters like these,” said Masangwi. Deputy Secretary to the President and Cabinet Kamphambe Nkhoma said, through his secretary, that he already communicated back to NDA. NDA has not yet registered into a political party following a few set backs. Soon after their convention in Blantyre in January, the pressure group was beaten to registration by three individuals — Thom Chiumia, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi and Ken Ndanga — who registered a party using the group’s name and symbols. The High Court ordered Registrar of the Political Parties to de-register the party on grounds that it was registered fraudulently and in bad faith. NDA is now battling with OPC to give it permission to use the word national in its name. National is among the protected words in Malawi and only OPC is mandated to permit its use.
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