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Barely two weeks after the ruling UDF held a national executive meeting to iron out problems among its members, the party is planning another gathering for its highest committee to check confusion and indiscipline in its ranks.
Secretary general Kennedy Makwangwala said on Wednesday the meeting is scheduled for next week but a specific date is yet to be set.
He said there are issues to be addressed within the party, including disciplining members Mike Omar Bagus and Elias Wakuda Kamanga, who published a statement last Thursday attacking UDF big wigs for their dislike of President Bingu wa Mutharika’s rule. The two referred to themselves as concerned citizens.
Makwangwala indicated in an earlier interview that the two had breached party discipline and protocol which does not allow anyone to form any committee without the consent of the executive committee. He added that the two have been summoned before the disciplinary committee.
Asked if outspoken executive member Dumbo Lemani will be disciplined for insisting on going ahead with his Fast Track, a group aimed at strengthening the UDF, Makwangwala said Lemani has not put his intentions in writing as such there is no evidence that the group exists.
“Bagus and Wakuda Kamanga put their signatures to the statement but Honourable Lemani has not done that. We’re waiting for him to put his signature on the matter and then we will discipline him,” said Makwangwala.
He said Lemani assured the NEC meeting on July 25 that he dissolved his Fast Track. This contradicts the party’s statement at the weekend which denied the existence of task forces.
Lemani said on Monday he would defy party chairman Bakili Muluzi’s order to slow down on his attacks against government, saying he would go flat out strengthening the fast track because “government is saying in newspapers that I stole US$1.6 million from the Petroleum Control Commission”.
Soon after his arrival from his four-week holiday overseas, Muluzi said there cannot be a government led by an independent president. The statement was interpreted by commentators as hitting at Mutharika and taking sides with party functionaries who are working against the new president.
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