The Lilongwe District Council on Saturday stopped Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) president Peter Mutharika from holding a rally at Masintha grounds in Kawale Township, despite an earlier permission to the party to go ahead with the rally and a whistle-stop tour in the capital city.
In an interview on Monday, DPP spokesperson Nicholas Dausi confirmed that the meeting at Masintha and the whistle-stop rallies in several places within the city were cancelled after Lilongwe district commissioner (DC) Felix Mkandawire changed his position.
However, Mkandawire denied giving DPP an initial go-ahead for their activities. He said his response to them was in a form of advice for the party to postpone the rallies until the situation in Lilongwe stabilises after clashes among vendors earlier in the week.
Dausi said DPP had written both the DC and the police, got permission to go ahead with the whistle-stop rallies but got another position from Mkandawire at around six o’clock in the evening on Friday stopping them from going ahead.
He said: “We were then surprised that the DC felt that we could not go ahead. He even told us not to hold any meeting in Lilongwe.”
He said the party plans to hold the postponed whistle-stop tours and the rally at Masintha Sunday afternoon.
But Mkandawire said his decision was for the love of the country and the people of Lilongwe. He dismissed suggestions that he had pressure from anywhere to have the tour and the rally postponed.
He expressed surprise that DPP was insinuating that it was stopped from holding its whistle-stop tour and the rally because in the past the same DPP has been given permission to hold rallies in the city without any problems.
He said: “Since I came to Lilongwe, [DPP] have had more than 10 whistle-stop tours.”
Mkandawire said following his advice, DPP has already submitted a fresh request to have the whistle-stop tours and the rally over the weekend and said there is likelihood that the activities will go ahead since the situation in the city has returned to normal.
Police in Lilongwe in April this year also stopped Mutharika from holding whistle-stop rallies from Lilongwe to Kasungu, apparently because the rallies had clashed with the arrival of President Joyce Banda from the United States of America through Kamuzu International Airport (KIA).
National police spokesperson Rhoda Manjolo said the police has nothing to do with stopping political parties from holding rallies or whistle-stop tours in an area as that mandate lies with the DCs.
