Tempers flare at MCP convention
Tempers flared at the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) convention yesterday as delegates differed on the party’s decision to share national executive committee (NEC) posts equally across districts, with some opting for the ballot instead of endorsements.
It all started in the afternoon when MCP decided that some NEC positions should be equally shared in all districts to achieve national representation.
The development saw some positions being filled by members who went in unopposed.
But later in the night, protests ensued as some delegates still pushed for the ballot.
The differences led to a deadlock that forced convention chairperson Augustine Chidzanja suspending proceedings for dinner at about 8.30pm to allow the organising committee decide on the wt MCP headquarters in Lilongwe. The developments came against a background of embattled ousted secretary general Gustave Kaliwo and four others insisting the gathering was illegal.
At around 2.30pm, after about four hours of waiting, some delegates proposed an equal share of positions in the party across the regions of the party, namely North, South, Central, Eastern and Lakeshore.
“Considering that most of the critical positions that we elected yesterday [on Saturday] seemed to have gone to one region [Central Region], we resolved to at least distribute evenly the remaining positions to the North, South and Eastern regions,” Chidzanja told the delegates after lunch break.
Following his announcement, Cornelius Mwalwanda (director of economic affairs) and the Reverend Maurice Munthali (publicity secretary), both from the Northern Region, went in unopposed. Prior to the decision, Mwalwanda faced competition from Lilongwe Msozi North member of Parliament (MP) and 2014 running mate to then governing People’s Party president Joyce Banda while Munthali had a challenge from Lilongwe Rural East legislator Ezekiel Ching’oma.
Gwengwe and Ching’oma told delegates in the hall they had withdrawn from the race to promote equity and togetherness.
But Ken Zikhale Ng’oma did have a smooth ride for the position of director of strategic planning as some delegates called for a vote. However, it was later resolved that he gets the post unopposed.
Other positions filled unopposed included director of international affairs taken up by Thomas Bisika, director of religious affairs given to Sheik Muhammad Fahad and director of research filled by Edward Governor.
On the other hand, voted positions included director of women won by Mai Mkanda and director of youth Dowa East MP Richard Chimwendo Banda.
Kaliwo, however, said in an interview yesterday he did not attend the convention because doing so would have been “dignifying an illegal convention”.
He said party president Lazarus Chakwera did not follow protocol and to be re-elected on a position without following the constitution is something uncalled for as he was supposed to relinquish his position as president first and let people vote under article 37 (7)(5) of the party’s constitution.
Said Kaliwo: “Chakwera should have first relinquished his power and if convention has been called it means the [former] first vice-president of the party acts as a president. In this case, Richard Msowoya is, therefore, an acting president. Going forward, we will wait for a legitimate convention which will be called by Msowoya .”
But Kaliwo’s replacement, Eisenhower Mkaka, yesterday described his position as kicks of a dying horse.
Said Mkaka: “He [Kaliwo] indeed has nothing to say because his position no longer exists. The NEC he belonged to was dissolved according to our constitution. Contrary to what he is saying, NEC is the one which is supposed to call for a convention, so that happened.”
As we went to press, the delegates were yet to agree on whether to proceed with endorsements or voting. n
