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MCP to elect vice-president at NEC meeting

The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) says it will elect its first vice-president at the party’s next national executive committee (NEC) meeting following Mohammed Sidik Mia’s death on January 12 2021.

MCP publicity secretary the Reverend Maurice Munthali in an interview last week attributed failure by the party’s NEC to meet to factors beyond its control.

He further acknowledged that the party is flouting its own const i tut ion, which stipulates that vacant posts should be filled within 90 days.

Munthali said: “Owing to the fact that NEC took a long time to meet due to factors beyond the party’s control, there was a lot on the table to tackle.

“We believe NEC should be able to fill the vacant positions when we meet next, notwithstanding the fact that we have indeed delayed to do so.” According to the MCP  

Munthali: We have delayed to replace him

constitution, when a position falls vacant under any circumstances, it can be filled by a meeting of the central executive committee, which is guided by the president.

Munthali said other positions expected to be filled include the party’s director of research following the death of Lingson Belekanyama on the same day that Mia died.

At the time of his death, Mia was minister of Transport and Public Works while Belekanyama was minister of Local Government and Rural Development and the party’s legislator for Lilongwe Msinja South.

They both succumbed to Covid-19 complications.

In a separate interview on Saturday, governance commentator Makhumbo Munthali said there are numerous factors that can be attributed to the party’s delay in filling vacant positions.

He said: “It is possible that there are camps within the party that are aiming for the position of vice-president so the party is trying to avoid a situation where it might displease one faction.

“But, unfortunately, this has implications because they have to fill vacant positions as a democratic tenet.”

In May last year, there were reports that both MCP insiders and outsiders, including Mia’s wife, Abida, and then minister of Mining Rashid Gaffar, were positioning themselves for the post of vice-president.

But whi l e Gaffar declined to comment on the reports, Abida, who is now Minister of Water and Sanitation and Chikwawa Nkombezi legislator (MCP), distanced herself from the matter.

In an earlier interview with The Nation, political analyst Ernest Thindwa said continued disrespect of party constitutions creates uncertainty in party politics.

This, he said, tends to not only weaken the party, but also shapes attitudes of the political elite, functionaries and citizens at large towards the national Constitution.

Following the death of Mia and Belekanyama, Pr esident Lazarus Chakwera declared three days of national mourning and proclaimed a State of National Disaster to help trigger resource mobilisation.

Chakwera picked Mia as his running mate in the run-up to the May 2019 disputed polls, dropping former Speaker of Parliament Richard Msowoya, with whom he partnered in the 2014 polls

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