MCP members rough up their 2nd vice president

Some members of main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in the Southern region on Wednesday roughed up their second vice president MacDonald Lombola and administrative secretary Portipher Chidaya at the region’s headquarters in Blantyre for “unknown reasons”.

Chidaya refused to grant Nation Online an interview today, but responded through a short message service (SMS) that “it is a family affair”.

However, National Executive Committee (NEC) member Samuel Kaphuka who attended the meeting said Chidaya was severely beaten and that the angry members also deflated tires for Lombola’s car.

Said Kaphuka: “I can confirm that honourable Chidaya, vice president Lombola and NEC member Nicholas Kachingwe were beaten up, but Chidaya was severely beaten. You could not tell what crime they committed because the meeting had not started when the fracas erupted.

“All I know is these were MCP members because there was no outsider. Chidaya came here to talk to the regional committee and before the meeting started, he was checking who is in the regional committee or not. It is an unfortunate event.”

MCP publicity secretary Jessie Kabwila condemned the violence, saying the party is investigating the matter.

“It is an unfortunate matter and we need to fully understand what caused the mayhem. We are a peaceful party and the only hope for the country, so we will quickly resolve the matter,” she said in an interview on Thursday.

Meanwhile political analyst Boniface Dulani has said the democratic era has no space for such politically motivated violence, describing the fracas as “old and barbaric kind of politics”.

“MCP is government in waiting, and we cannot have a government in waiting which is involved in such squabbles. Such violence does not portray a good image of the MCP because it creates the impression that the party has not divorced itself from that era of violence,” he said.

Dulani then urged the MCP politburo to quickly resolve the matter.