Former Malawi’s Agriculture Minister Chiyembekeza dumps DPP

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)— Former Minister of Agriculture Dr. Allan Chiyembekeza has dumped the former governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) just a month after the party lost the court sanctioned election held on June 23.

Chiyembekeza announced his defection from the former governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to the current governing Malawi Congress Party (MCP)  at the ruling party’s Regional Headquarters in Blantyre on Tuesday.

He says his decision to join MCP is in line with the wishes of people in his home district of Thyolo.

While in DPP and as a Member of Parliament, Chiyembekeza served as Chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural resources.

He was also a member of the Pa-African Parliament and held the position of Deputy Secretary General in the DPP for some time before rising to the full Secretary General, a position which is currently held by Grezelder Jeffrey.

Chiyembekeza had been sacked from the cabinet by former President Peter Mutharika in 2016 while he was abroad in Ivory Coast on government assignment.

In a related development, Malawi Congress Party lead politician in the eastern region, Gerald Kazembe, unveiled Simeon Harrison on Thursday as candidate to represent the ruling MCP in the forthcoming parliamentary by-election.

Harrison, who won  the election case where the court ordered a re-run following irregularities that characterized the 2019 chaotically managed elections, decided to face the forthcoming bye-election not as an independent candidate as in 2019 but under MCP ticket.

The face of MCP in the eastern region, Kazembe, in the company of party campaigner director, Moses Kumkuyu, and MCP’s national executive committee member, Thomas Bisika, performed the rituals of welcoming Harrison into the MCP family.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).