APM should retire—Msonda
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Kenneth Msonda has called on former president Peter Mutharika to retire from leading ther party.
In an interview in Lilongwe on Tuesday, Msonda, who stressed that he was speaking in his personal capacity, said the party’s national governing council should meet soon to map the way forward.
He said Mutharika, who lost to President Lazarus Chakwera in the June 23 fresh presidential election, can play an advisory role in the party.
Said Msonda: “Mutharika and many others in the party should be accorded a dignified retirement from active politics to play an advisory role in the party as it embarks on restructuring process.”
But in a separate interview, DPP spokesperson Nicholas Dausi trashed Msonda’s sentiments, saying they are ill-timed as the party is still grieving over the loss of the presidential election.
He said: “His concerns may be valid, but the timing is wrong. We have just lost government. It’s like there is a funeral, the family is mourning and someone comes to say we have found another partner for you. That is not how things work. He is rushing things.”
University of Malawi political scientist Mustafa Hussein said looking at the DPP’s performance in the presidential election, it is time for the party to conduct a postmortem and see where it went wrong and focus on what needs to be done.
