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The UDF National Executive Committee (Nec) intends to warn President Bingu wa Mutharika to check the way he addresses UDF MPs after he returns from the United States of America next week.
The decision to caution Mutharika was arrived at Thursday during a meeting called by the UDF secretariat to discipline the party’s MPs who agreed on Monday to reject the 2004/2005 budget.
The MPs, who also agreed to boycott caucuses called by the President, are accusing him of lack of respect for them during a caucus held prior to the budget sitting where the head of state reportedly told them that he can run the country without their help if they are not willing to support him.
In an interview Thursday, UDF secretary general Kennedy Makwangwala said during the disciplinary meeting, chaired by treasurer general Khumbo Kachali, the party found out that the MPs were not happy with the way the President is treating them.
“The MPs said by doing what they did in Parliament, they wanted to show the President that they are important,” said Makwangwala.
He said now the MPs have proved their point.
“Everyone of us knows that they are important and that we need to talk to them politely,” said Makwangwala.
He said Nec members have agreed to caution Mutharika on his relations with the MPs.
“When he comes back, we will ask him to start talking nicely to the MPs because they have a big role to play in the country as well,” said Makwangwala.
Commenting on the issue, political scientist Boniface Dulani said the meeting to warn Mutharika might end up turning into an opportunity for the President to cut off forces that are trying to control him in the UDF.
“The whole saga is interesting since the President is enjoying a lot of support by the way he has been conducting himself since coming into power. He’s riding on a high level of popularity and the meeting might just be to his advantage,” said Dulani.
He, however, said Mutharika has to properly handle his MPs because he needs their support in Parliament.
“The people who are giving him the popular support don’t vote in Parliament,” said Dulani.
The UDF MPs indicated on Wednesday that they will only attend caucuses called by party chair former president Bakili Muluzi because Mutharika does not enjoy the support of most MPs who are scared of arrests in the President’s intensified anti-corruption drive.
Muluzi has, since August 1, been saying no government can survive without a political party that ushered it into power but Mutharika contradicted him on September 13, saying “even in America government is above the Republican party so every government is above party politics”.
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