My suspension a joke—Daza

Suspended Malawi Congress Party (MCP) secretary general (SG) Chris Daza says he remains the party SG despite being served with a suspension notice earlier this week.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Daza said he takes his suspension as a joke.

“I have done nothing outside my job. To me, it is a joke that I have been suspended from the party because the matter is still in court. As far as I am concerned, I am still a bona fide secretary general of MCP,” he said.

Daza said he feels the decision was arrived at because he is a threat to some people in the party.

“They want to threaten me so that they should make sure that I am not at the convention,” he said.

MCP administrative secretary Potipher Chidaya said Daza has been suspended for forming parallel structures.

“When he [Daza] was reinstated, he never showed up at the [MCP] headquarters to resume his duties. Instead, he kept on making noise and forming parallel structures,” he said.

In reaction, Daza denied forming parallel structures in the party, saying he was performing his duties as a secretary general.

“How was I supposed to report to the president? I was the one waiting for him to call me and reinstate me. The parallel structure issue is not true because I received a petition from party supporters calling for a convention. Is that forming a parallel structure? I was only doing my job,” he said.

Chidaya disclosed that the once suspended deputy secretary general Betson Majoni has been reinstated and he will be handling secretarial duties.

Daza was expelled from the party for alleged indiscipline after he openly declared interest to challenge party president John Tembo at a convention.

He, however, sought an injunction which High Court Judge Chifundo Kachale granted, stopping the party from expelling him both as a member and secretary general.