Namalomba, Mhango laugh off new court application
In the latest showdown of divisions in the former governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), four senior members have filed an application to nullify the party’s national governing council’s (NGC) proceedings and resolutions.
However, the party’s national treasurer Jappie Mhango has distanced himself from the application.
Sounding furious, the Rumphi North legislator said: “I was chairman of that meeting [NGC], so how can I obtain an injunction against it? No lawyer came to me about it and I will take action. I don’t tolerate nonsense.”
According to the application dated July 19 2023, the four are the party’s vice-president for Southern Region Kondwani Nankhumwa, the secretary general Grezelder Jeffrey, Mhango and Mulanje South parliamentarian Yusuf Nthenda.
The quartet wants the court to invalidate the proceedings and resolutions the party made on July 3 2023 during its NGC meeting held at Nkopola Lodge in Mangochi.
“We instructed our lawyers to make an application to court to have whatever happened on July 3 nullified for noncompliance of a court order we obtained on May 5 2022 and also for violating some provisions of the party’s constitution,” Nthenda said in an interview yesterday.
The party’s spokesperson Shadric Namalomba while expressing surprise with the application and describing the case a “closed matter”, urged the discontented members to leave the party instead of continuing to cause anarchy.
He said the NGC meeting was duly called for by the DPP central executive committee and the list of delegates was thoroughly scrutinized and approved.
He said: “We have indeed been served with the application but this is an old case which was already concluded and judgement entered so it is surprising that we could have a continuation of the same.
“The NGC resolutions were made by the overwhelming majority of the meeting and if there are a few individuals unhappy with what happened, let them leave the party and start their own instead of creating problems.”
Political scientist George Phiri said the developments emerging in the erstwhile governing party were a result of failure by its leadership to appreciate how people can behave politically and practice democratic principles in intraparty politics.
“The DPP leadership has that challenge and because of that they have so many cliques in the party that are not satisfied with certain decisions being made by the leadership. Unless they are included, those.”
He said it was time the DPP leadership reformed and started valuing the importance of unity and practising democratic principles in the intraparty politics.
According to the application, the disgruntled members and the party have been ordered to appear before High Court judge Simeon Mdeza on August 10 2023 for hearing of the application.
During the NGC meeting some members endorsed former president and party leader Peter Mutharika to be their torchbearer in the 2025 Tripartite Elections.
Besides endorsing Mutharika, the meeting also set dates for the party’s two conventions—the extraordinary convention to amend the constitution in December this year and an elective conference next July.
