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UDF has summoned party deputy Secretary General Paul Maulidi, director of social services Davies Katsonga, national organising secretary Salim Bagus and five other senior members to appear before a disciplinary committee on Saturday.
The other five, who are all from the Southern Region executive committee, include deputy governor Samson Msosa, governess Beatrice Kanjala, secretary (women’s desk) Aretha Wenzulo, youth director Aaron Sisito and executive member Basa Kaligomba.
The eight are being accused of working closer to President Bingu wa Mutharika and supporting his functions and have been summoned to face a disciplinary committee at the party’s secretariat at Mandala, Blantyre.
However, UDF on Thursday kept was mum on why the party has summoned the eight.
Secretary General Kennedy Makwangwala, who has signed the summons, on Thursday confirmed that the eight are going to face the party’s disciplinary committee but declined to give details, saying publicity secretary Salule Masangwi would be better placed to give details.
“I have sent a copy of the letter sent to them to [Masangwi]. He must have the information,” said Makwangwala when informed that Masangwi has no information.
Masangwi in a separate interview later, still denied having any information on the move to discipline the eight.
One of Makwangwala’s letters, dated January 5, 2005, indicated that the eight are to face a disciplinary committee “on matters of member misconduct,” at 9 in the morning.
“Failure to appear will lead to your own denial of natural justice and you will be heard in absentia,” reads part of the letter.
Both Bagus and Msosa on Thursday confirmed receiving the letters but said they did not know why they have to appear before a disciplinary committee.
In related development UDF gurus met on Tuesday and agreed to institute investigations into Mutharika who, they say, has established a working committee to revive his Unity Party (UP) which he disbanded in 2000 after he lost the 1999 presidential elections.
A UDF source said the party has discovered that Mutharika and his closest aides met some office bearers in the UDF executive, including Msosa, on Monday at Zomba State House after the failed meeting between the President and UDF office bearers at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre.
“They agreed that Msosa should chair the committee and that they should form a parallel executive committee comprising all deputy UDF Nec members and work on poaching within the UDF membership and later create new parallel structures to fight the existing UDF structures and to generally render the party ungovernable,” said the source.
The source said the Tuesday meeting, held at party chair Bakili Muluzi’s residence at BCA Hills residence, was informed that Mutharika has met the UP working committee on four occasions.
The BCA meeting was also informed that Mutharika’s UP committee will also remove the economic means of the UDF party from senior members by “denying” them business opportunities and will also use the K1 billion loan scheme to benefit only those that support the President.
However, Msosa said the committee that the UDF is talking about does not exist, saying people “are speaking anything against anybody”.
“If they were clever, they would have come out in the open to tell us that true UDF members should not attend the President’s rallies. This should be said by the national chairman yet the national chairman all the time tells us that everybody in UDF should help Dr. Mutharika because he’s a UDF president,” said Msosa.
He said if Mutharika fails to govern the blame will go to the party chair and the UDF.
Bagus, who was also mentioned to be a member of the UP working committee, said he might be implicated because he has been attending the President’s rallies after some “regional and top UDF members” ordered that people should boycott Mutharika’s rallies.
“The divisions in the party are not necessary. Never at one time has Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika come to us to say he’s a member of UP. He’s told us that he belongs to UDF,” said Bagus.
He said the UDF should stop applying double standards by only disciplining people that support the President and not those who insult him.
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