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UDF chairman Bakili Muluzi has dismissed accusations that he is behind the wrangles and divisions rocking the party, vowing that he cannot resign as demanded by some people who have resigned from the party he started.
Muluzi’s spokesperson, Sam Mpasu said on Thursday there is no basis for disciplining the chair because he has done nothing wrong warranting such action. Mpasu said Muluzi has not forced anyone to leave the UDF.
Mpasu said Muluzi is simply a party leader who is not going to stay in the position for life but will step down after five years.
“We know we made a mistake by letting the people that are resigning now assume high positions which they never deserved because they didn’t love the party but came to seek jobs.
“You remember with Muluzi we started UDF as a pressure group long before it became ruling party. So we can’t leave or remove Muluzi from it now. It is those that were in UDF that time that have remained and will strengthen it,” he said.
Mpasu also said those resigning from the party are doing so because they are under pressure from Mutharika to disassociate themselves from the chair.
“They know that if they remain loyal to the party it may cost them their positions in government,” he alleged.
Mpasu added that the resignations will help strengthen the UDF because it will have only loyal supporters who genuinely love it.
Mpasu cautioned Mutharika to be on the lookout because some of the people following him may not have the genuine desire to serve him and the nation but to seek some fortune.
UDF Secretary General Kennedy Makwangwala said in a separate interview Muluzi is not the only one to shoulder blame for the problems in UDF but the whole party.
“We were all involved in making decisions that have led to the party’s disintegration now. So it is not a matter of removing Muluzi but learning from the mistakes we have made,” said Makwangwala.
But Political Science lecturer at Chancellor College Boniface Dulani said Muluzi is to blame for the problems in the party because he is the leader and therefore the one person to shoulder the blame.
“In as much as the mess in UDF has been caused by the UDF, the whole country is also to blame because it is the whole country that has contributed into making Muluzi a dictator. But since Muluzi is the one leading the party, things would be fine if he had stepped down honourably,” said Dulani, adding that founding a party does not mean owning it.
Former National Democratic Alliance (NDA) president Brown Mpinganjira, who is reportedly being groomed to be the party’s standard bearer in 2009 elections, said removing Muluzi from the party will not solve the problems it is experiencing.
“I am happy to assist in the rebuilding of the party and we still have a lot of time to do that,” said Mpinganjira, who was drafted into the UDF National Executive Committee (Nec).
On whether Mutharika will attract UDF supporters if he launches his party, Mpinganjira said UDF will not spend time making such speculations but will focus on solving its problems and strengthening itself.
“After all, out of the population of about 12 million people there is no way we can run short of supporters. At least everyone of us will have a fair share,” said Mpinganjira.
Mpinganjira also parried media reports that Muluzi is grooming him to be the party’s presidential candidate in 2009 elections.
“I have heard that from the press but nobody has approached me on that. Secondly I have not yet made up my mind on my future and I am still taking the matters easy.”
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