JB powers up women at party convention
Former president Joyce Banda, who is also People’s Party (PP) president, has urged women to throw all setbacks in their political ambitions behind and focus on their goals.
She said this when opening the PP convention at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe yesterday where the party is expected to elect a new National Executive Committee (NEC).
“There are so many setbacks for women in politics; some people even sponsor youths to be castigating women all in the quest to bring them down. But if you know what you want, focus on it,” she advised.
Banda said PP is capable of solving challenges facing the country and urged party followers to work hard to bounce back into government. Banda was president from April 2012 to June 2014 following the death of Bingu wa Mutharika on April 5 2012 due to a cardiac arrest.
On the 2025 General Elections, she said PP will hold discussions with Mafunde party for a possible working relationship.
“We will meet soon with Mafunde to discuss how we can possibly work together so that we can better serve Malawians and give them the good governance they need,” she Banda.
Out of 31 NEC positions being competed for, 16 are going unopposed as only one person has expressed interest for each one of them, according to a list of aspirants which we have seen.
Among the positions going uncontested are those of president, for which only Joyce Banda has expressed interest and vice-president, for which only Lawrence Bisika has shown interest.
Ben Chakhame is going unopposed for the position of secretary general.
Other positions going uncontested are director of elections where Andekuche Chanthunya has no opponent while for director of women, Mable Masangano, also, has no contestant.
The race for the position of publicity secretary is between renowned broadcaster Wellington Kuntaja and legislator Ackson Kalaile Banda. The loser will automatically become the vice.
According to the convention’s organising committee chairperson Peter Kamange, voting for the contested positions will take place today followed by announcement of the results.
PP held its last convention in 2018 at Robin’s Park in Blantyre where Banda was elected the party’s torch-bearer for the 2019 General Elections, which was won by Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Peter Mutharika before the Constitutional Court nullified the presidential results and sanctioned a fresh poll on July 23 2020, which was won by the nine-member Tonse Alliance led by Malawi Congress Party’s (MCP) Lazarus Chakwera, with UTM Party’s leader, the late Saulos Chilima as vice-president.
PP becomes the third party to hold a convention ahead of the 2025 General Elections after MCP and DPP, which held theirs last month.
The convention, which is being held under the theme ‘Restoring hope, building a brighter future together’, is being attended by other political parties such as Mafunde, the United Democratic Front, Umodzi Party and People’s Democratic Party. Also present are representatives of non-governmental organisations and international delegates.
