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Zikhale is frustrated—PP

People’s Party (PP) has described its campaign director Ken Zikhale Ng’oma’s defection from the party as a sign of frustration following his loss in the parliamentary election.

Zikhale dumped the PP on Saturday and, in an interview yesterday, said he was joining the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) because PP and DPP have similar ideologies. He also said President Peter Mutharika is accommodating other political parties.

Has joined DPP: Zikhale (2L)
Has joined DPP: Zikhale (2L)

But PP secretary general Paul Maulidi said much as he has not received Zikhale’s resignation letter, he believes his move is out of frustration following his loss in the May 20 Tripartite Elections.

“He contested for a seat in Nkhata Bay under PP but lost. This is just frustration as people mostly react angrily after losing an election. You should also know that some people are like political whirlwind; they just want to be associated with ruling parties,” said Maulidi.

But Zikhale insisted that he saw no difference between PP and DPP; hence, the decision to join the ruling party.

“I want to re-join the DPP and support President Mutharika. He has shown that he is accommodating by working with the United Democratic Front [UDF] and Malawi Congress Party [MCP],” said Zikhale.

However, Maulidi wondered when the former campaign director knew about the ideological similarities.

“When did he know that we have similar ideologies because before he joined the PP, Zikhale read our manifesto and what our focus is. In fact, we talk about Mudzi Transformation Trust where houses should be built for people for free while DPP talks about reducing building materials. Are these things similar?” asked Maulidi.

Zikhale also claimed that the PP never accepted ideas from its members. He claimed that he raised the issue of amalgamation between PP and DPP, but he received a harsh response, including that he should form his own party.

He also said he does not want to associate with a party whose provincial governor (the reverend Christopher Ngwira) advocated for secession of the North.

“I was not happy with that statement and I believe that if there are problems, secession is not the solution,” he said.

Zikhale was one of the DPP founders in 2005 and was its first secretary general. He left the party to form New Republican Party (NRP) with Gwanda Chakuamba only to return to the party just before the 2009 general elections. He later joined PP after its founder Joyce Banda became president.

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