Aford leaders endorse Mwenifumbo

Despite continued woes in Alliance for Democracy (Aford), some party leaders in Southern and Eastern regions have endorsed Karonga Central member of Parliament (MP) Frank Mwenifumbo as aspiring president.

The party leaders backed Mwenifumbo’s candidature during a meeting he conducted to garner support for his bid.

Mwenifumbo has been leading a faction of the party calling for the party convention since rejoining it after serving the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and later Peoples Party (PP).

About 100 party leaders and members converged in Blantyre on Saturday to express their support for Mwenifumbo ahead of the party’s convention scheduled for April 27 and 28 in Lilongwe.

Addressing the delegates drawn from nearly all political districts in Southern and Eastern regions, Mwenifumbo said he had declared his intentions to contest as party president not because the incumbent Enock Chihana had failed but because he wanted to take over the presidency to breathe more life into the party.

He said: “I have distinct and doable strategies that will make Aford a national party once again. We had 36 Parliamentarians in 1994 but that number has kept on shrinking until today we have only one MP who is the party president.

“This is a very sad state of affairs and I want to change that status. I will make the party stronger and formidable once again.”

The meeting drew several top Aford leaders such as national chairperson Gulani Michael Guta, secretary general Christopher Ritchie and chairperson of Revamping Aford Movement (Ramo) Owen Mumba.

On their part, Guta and Ritchie said their attending the meeting to endorse Mwenifumbo as the aspiring party president did not imply they were revolting against Chihana.

Said Guta: “We cannot obstruct any Aford member from contesting on any position of his or her preference as long as he qualifies. Actually, that is within the dictates of the constitution of Alliance for Democracy.” n