The People’s Party (PP) says it will not feel the departure of its vice-president (Central Province) Dr.CassimChilumpha because he was nowhere active.
Chilumpha was reported to have resigned from the party yesterday.
But political scientist Dr. Augustine Magolowondo has cautioned PP against complacency, saying: “You cannot just wish away a person of Chilumpha’s calibre.”
Nonetheless, PP’s acting secretary general Paul Maulidi said Chilumpha’s resignation was “just one of those misfortunes, but life must go on and we will not be affected.”
To PP, according to Maulidi, Chilumpha, who was elected at the party’s convention in August 2012, “did not perform as expected.”
Said Maulidi: “He [Chilumpha] hasn’t been active as expected of a vice-president, but we took it as normal that there are some people who work while others are lazy so we were not worried.”
Chilumpha could not be reached for comment, but several on-line media reports on Boxing Day suggested that he resigned because President Joyce Banda has been sending officials to his Nkhotakota South Constituency to de-campaign him for Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs FahadAssani ahead of PP’s primary elections in the area.
Magolowondo viewed Chilumpha’s resignation as a culmination of a lengthy frustration instigated by the appointment of Assani as Minister of Justice.
Observed Magolowondo: “One is a minister demonstrating the confidence of the President in him, the other one is party vice-president demonstrating the confidence the party has in him.
“One is appointed minister today and he demonstrates interest to contest, it was a mistake for PP to think they can live with that. Of course, both are eligible candidates and no law bars them.”
Further, according to Magolowondo, this is “a clear indication that PP just like other parties, is failing to resolve internal conflicts.”
But Maulidi wondered: “If that was the case, why then did he collect nomination forms last week?”
Assani, on the other hand, alleged that Chilumpha’s resignation is “because the going has been tough for him [in Nkhotakota South Constituency].”
Said Assani: “There is no truth at all that the party is sending people to endorse me. What I have seen on the ground is that the Chilumpha team never created any PP structures on the ground and it’s now that we are creating such structures.”
Chilumpha, who has served as Member of Parliament for Nkhotakota South for close to 20 years now, already paid his K50 000 PP nomination fees.
He joined PP last year after dumping the United Democratic Front (UDF) where he failed to clinch the presidency which eventually went to AtupeleMuluzi.
Throughout his political life, Chilumpha is seen as a man who leads a quiet and isolated life.
