Phoya not aspiring for presidency

Blantyre Rural East MP Henry Phoya (independent) on Tuesday joined opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP), but ruled out vying for the party’s presidency.

Prior to Tuesday’s news conference,  where Phoya announced his move, at MCP president and leader of opposition John Tembo’s residence in Lilongwe’s Area 10, speculation was rife the Blantyre legislator is being groomed to take over leadership of the party.

Phoya, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) founding member, refused to comment on speculation that other MPs from his former party were following him. He said his decision was personal and could not comment on matters outside the party.

He said he has no agenda to get a particular position, but to assist MCP win the forthcoming 2014 general elections and that he cannot accept any Cabinet position from DPP as he is no longer available.

“I do not think those that have that capacity to offer Cabinet positions would consider me. My services are no longer available as I now belong to a larger party where I will work hard to assist in the next general election,” he said.

Phoya, who served as DPP director of legal affairs before his expulsion for describing the Injunctions Bill as “a bad law”, said he engaged the MCP leadership in what he called an “open, sincere and honest discussion” since August 2011. He said he did not subscribe to the idea of forming new parties which, he observed, has ended up to be costly experiments to Malawians.

Said Phoya: “Malawi, as a country, is in dire need of mature, serious and focused leadership if it is to be saved from the path of destruction which it has taken.

“Malawi’s political arena has been full of political experiments, usually in form of new parties and untried, untested and inexperienced politicians [who] have been extremely costly to the well-being of mother Malawi.”

He said the country is bleeding and cannot afford further political experiments, saying in the short-term, those in leadership should engage experienced leaders such as those in MCP to avert the continued suffering of Malawians.

“Our economy will continue to remain a sick joke. The common people are visiting hospitals that have no medicines and have turned into waiting rooms for the journey to the grave. Our agriculture remains primitive, education standards plummeting, civil liberties enshrined in the Constitution being at the mercy of the unpredictable tinpot dictators because of our current obsession with hero-worshipping,” said Phoya, a lawyer.

Tembo described Phoya as “mature, intelligent and focused politician” who has tested puddings of different parties before “coming back home” as his late father was an MCP member until his demise in 1980.

MCP heavyweights, including vice-president MacDonald Lombola, director of elections Joseph Njobvuyalema, treasurer general Watson Makala Ngozo and publicity secretary Nancy Tembo, attended the briefing.

Meanwhile, founding member of UDF, Ken Msonda, who was once party publicity secretary and aspiring MP for Blantyre Kabula Constituency, has announced his resignation from the party, saying he wants to go home and reflect on his political career.

Msonda told Zodiak Broadcasting Station on Tuesday that he has consulted widely on the decision and that he has not been bought by anyone to step down from the troubled UDF.

 

 

FACT FILE

• Phoya became an MP during UDF’s second term     of office (1999 to 2004).
• He served the UDF administration as Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
• He is a founding member of President Bingu wa Mutharika’s DPP where he also served as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.
• Phoya also served as chairperson for Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee until August 2011 when he was expelled from DPP alongside three others.