Malawi President Joyce Banda is scheduled to meet traditional leaders from across the country today (Thursday) at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre.
The agenda of the meeting is not known, but some opposition parties have expressed suspicions, especially on the timing of today’s meeting..
Both presidential press secretary Steven Nhlane and Maganizo Mazeze, public relations officer for the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, confirmed the meeting.
However, the two did not have the agenda.
Said Nhlane: “I know about the meeting, but I do not have the agenda. However, Her Excellency has been interacting with chiefs since she came to power [in April 2012]. She recognises them as key to national development.”
He admitted that over 200 chiefs will be in attendance.
But the opposition is suspicious of the whole meeting.
Said United Democratic Front (UDF) spokesperson Ken Ndanga: “We have always been suspicious of the way the President has been handling matters of chiefs.
“We are aware of strategies the People’s Party (PP) has put in place to make sure that chiefs will be by her side in 2014.”
His counterpart in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Nicholas Dausi, accused the President of doing the same things she was blaming the former president the late Bingu wa Mutharika for.
Said Dausi: “When [the late] Bingu wa Mutharika was inviting chiefs to meetings, she accused him of politicising them. Now she is doing the same things. She should let the chiefs be in the villages to monitor voter registration.”
He alleged that the President wants to make chiefs PP campaign directors to drum up support for her party.
The DPP spokesperson also accused Banda of being insensitive to the current situation which demands a lot of saving.
Asked about the cost of hosting the chiefs, Mazeze demanded a questionnaire which he had not responded to as we went to bed.
