The former first lady Callista Muthaika is apologizing to Malawians for coming late in denouncing President Peter Mutharika poor leadership.

This is part of the press statement the team of the Vice President Chilima issued during the press conference.

Preamble The

he reason for calling this press conference is to highlight our position, as bona- fide members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), particularly about our expectations in the forthcoming elective conference. More importantly we want to officially nominate our Vice President, Dr Sulos Klaus Chilima, who is also a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to contest for the position of president at the convention, which we expect to be credible, free and fair.

This meeting follows a conglomeration of events heralded a few months ago by former First Lady, Madam Calista Mutharika, when she expressed the need for leadership change in the DPP in order to increase its chances of winning next year’s elections. We are conducted this press meeting in line with democratic principles and pluralist ethos, upon which the DPP was founded.

Route One: Back ground

In 2013, President Peter Mutharika invited some of us to a meeting at Beneath Trust offices in Limbe, which was attended by Masangwi, Ngalande, Chibingu and some women from our southern region office. At the meeting, Mutharika said he would only be President for five years as his main mission was only to steer the party to power after which he would leave the leadership to someone else younger and more energetic. The issue of age therefore came from Mutharika himself; we are merely reminding him about what came from his own mouth. We therefore want to know what happened for the President to recant from that pledge. Is he suddenly energetic?

Our quest as DPP to fulfill our manifesto pledges after winning the 2014 elections started well. For example, Mutharika appointed a 20 member cabinet like we promised and the Civil Service Reforms started in earnest with our Vice President, Hon. Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima firmly at the helm. However, just when we thought things were steadily progressing, the President made some retrogressive decisions such as the removal of Civil Service Reforms from the office of the Vice President to be iced at the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).

We learned that the reason for the decision was to prevent Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima from becoming politically visible. We learned that the President was advised by his so-called inner circle to remove Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima from the reforms for committing a sin of ‘outshining’ Mutharika politically. We question the wisdom of Mutharika for allowing to be swayed away from important national developmental issues such as the Civil Service Reforms due to such petty and selfish reasons. How did he expect the whole Vice President of the country to work in silence without being visible?

The DPP constitution provides for regular National Governing Council (NGC) meetings per year to allow for process reviews vis-à-vis the implementation of the party’s manifesto. This would have been our opportunity as a party to reflect on whether we are faithful to the mandate given to us by Malawians. However, Mutharika has never called for any NGC meeting since 2013 despite several requests and reminders asking him to call for these crucial meetings for our party. For the past five years, our President has simply been indifferent to the operating framework of the DPP as stipulated in our constitution. He has totally disrespected the mandate of the NGC, which we believe is the reason why our intra-party democracy has suffered.

Article 10 (2) of the DPP constitution clearly spells out that all NGC members, including the President must seek a fresh mandate after five years. As a law Professor and also the one who authored the DPP constitution, Mutharika should have remembered that the party needed to hold its convention before April 2018. Mutharika should have been the first one to understand, respect and follow our ground rules guided by the very constitution that he co-created. We are disappointed that he is the one at the forefront in raping the same constitution and throwing the party he claims to lead into a shameful constitutional crisis.

We believe Mutharika’s failure to call for an NGC meeting for the past five years is the major reason why the DPP has been thrown into the current constitutional crisis where the mandate of all office holders, including that of the President, expired in April this year. Technically, it means all positions are vacant in the DPP; there is no one at the moment who can even call for an NGC meeting. This can only be a sad reality for a ruling party in as far as intra-party democracy is concerned. We know we find ourselves in this crisis because Mutharika created an impenetrable inner clique comprised of friends, personal assistants and close relations which makes all party decisions including making crucial government appointments, which we regard as a colossal anomaly.

For example, Dr George Chaponda lost to Henry Mussa for the position of Treasurer General by a wide margin at our last national convention in 2013, but he was nonetheless made DPP’s Vice President for the southern region, a position solely created for him, and one which does not exist in the constitution of the party. This made Chaponda the most powerful senior DPP member and is ironically lording over the very people that defeated him at the convention. This is happening because our President has chosen to patronize his friends at the expense the party.

Memories are also still fresh about how our President ignored advice to remove Chaponda as Minister of Agriculture when he faced corruption charges over MAIZEGATE. Our advice for Chaponda to be fired consistently fell on deaf ears, and it had to take court action pressure from some CSO’s for him (Mutharika) to finally make the decision. Despite this, Chaponda still maintained his unconstitutional position of DPP Vice President for the southern region, something which is damaging the image of the party. We still don’t believe Chaponda has been acquitted by the court of public opinion to allow him near any senior position in the party; he is still an image risk for DPP.

Our President is also a poor decision maker who over-consults even on simple and straightforward matters. Peter Mutharika was Minister of Education during the academic freedom saga in 2011. As someone with extensive university life experience and also brother to the President, the country naturally expected him to advise his brother to reign in on the situation to end the stalemate. Instead, he went into hiding and became the most absent and disinterested person in the whole saga. As a result, many students suffered due to the prolonged closure of the university; some are yet to finish their courses to date. No wonder today President Mutharika is at the forefront giving beer and MK20, 000.00 bribes to university students in a desperate quest to buy cheap support instead of solving their overreaching challenges such as prohibitive fees and lack of bed space. We want to be emphatic that this President is insensitive to the plight of university students.

It is sad that Mutharika has practically drifted away from his constitutional mandate. We believe the failure of Mutharika’s leadership, particularly his constructive refusal to be held accountable through NGC reviews reduced our capacity as a party to effectively implement our promises to Malawians. For example, we promised Malawians Civil Service Reforms; we promised Malawians a reduction of Presidential powers; we promised Malawians to fight corruption by among other things ensuring the independence of the Anti-Corruption-Bureau (ACB); we promised Malawians that we will abolish the quota system of selecting students to University of Malawians as soon as we assume the reins of power. Today, four years later, Mutharika appears not to have an iota of clue about how to implement these promises.

These are some of the reasons that leave us with no option but to agree with him that he has indeed aged and may not be able to continue beyond his first five years. We find Mutharika’s leadership wanting and deeply flawed; he is a weak leader and must not be allowed to continue carrying the DPP as its President beyond 2019. The people that are prodding Mutharika and cheering him on as a good leader are simply unfair to Malawians; to the DPP but above all, they are being unfair to Mutharika himself.

Route Two: Our Nomination

It is against a backdrop these monumental leadership failures on the part of Mutharika that we would like to officially nominate Vice President of this country, who is also bona fide member of the DPP, his Excellency Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima to contest for the position of president at the next free, fair and credible convention for DPP. The reason why we are nominating Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima to drive the next chapter of our history is because he is a youthful and energetic young man who has demonstrated passion to get things done for the benefit of Malawians. He has also demonstrated that he is an accomplished decision maker even under pressure-cooker circumstances. Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima is a proven winner and a humble performer with exceptional temerity for hard work. He has demonstrated diligence and positive work ethic, something which the Mutharika and his panel of close friends furiously lack.

Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima has all the hallmarks of a transformational leader, and will be a breath of fresh air from the indecisiveness of Mutharika. His passionate sense of value makes him the ideal person to take us forward and steer the DPP ship out of the perennial doldrums that Mutharika has taken us into. Every generation must also rule itself, and Malawi is a young country where a majority of the population is below 65 years of age. It is our conviction therefore that Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima is more disposed to connect with us and understand our challenges better than the disconnection that we are currently experiencing under President Pete Mutharika.

Dr Sulos Klaus Chilima was also born in Malawi; grew up in Malawi; got his education in Malawi and has extensive knowledge of the Malawian private sector having worked there and created employment for many youths for many years. We believe this background gives him the vantage point to effectively respond to the needs of Malawians from different sectors with quick and practical solutions for their myriad challenges. We believe Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima’s leadership would be a significant departure from the procrastinations of Mutharika, whose long stay outside this country is the reason why he is clueless and totally disconnected from common issues that affect Malawians. We believe that is also the reason our President over-consults even on very small and ‘split-second’ decision matters.

Our position does not mean we have anything personal against Prof. Peter Mutharika; in fact we regard him as our father. We only think he is no longer able to provide the kind of leadership that the DPP and Malawi require at this critical time when the country is facing monumental social economic challenges. We respect Prof. Peter Mutharika just like we would respect any other elderly person in the spirit of “ akuluakulu ndi m’dambo mozimila moto”. We want him to rest and keep his legacy and will still be our ‘go to man’ on issues that require his insights. We just don’t think he has the energy levels that his office demands.

Our reason for asking Mutharika to step aside is also not only due to his advanced age, neither is this a youths versus elders confrontation, but we recognize that our elders are a bastion of wisdom, as such our respect for the elderly is beyond question. However, we are also not blind to the fact that a 70 year old does not have the energy of a 40 year old. We are live to the understanding that ageing comes with its own downside. When one is ageing, it is natural to rely more on the support and judgment of others such as your grandchildren and advisors; you therefore become less of your own man. We believe the DPP has been a victim of poor leadership because age has affected Mutharika’s better judgment.

Recently, President Ian Khama of Botswana, a country whose GDP per capita income is $7383.30 or seven times that of Malawi, bequeathed the baton of leadership to his much younger and more energetic deputy, Mokgweetsi Masisi. At 70 years, Khama quietly ceded the stage to his capable deputy so that he enjoys his retirement. The US, the richest and most powerful country in the world has consistently elected men in their 40s to the office of president. Former Presidents like Barak Obama, Bill Clinton, and John F Kennedy all became presidents in their 40s. France elected President Macron at 39 years of age and just recently, Austria elected a 31 year old, Sebastian Kurz, as Prime Minister. These are bigger economies with much higher per capita income than Malawi, and if young people are able to manage such big economies, what is stopping us from doing the same? In fact we do not think Mutharika has anything more to accomplish for Malawi that he did not accomplish in 79 years.

To borrow the wisdom of Mo Ibrahim, we fear the only place that Mutharika’s leadership can take this country would be to its grave. It is also an insult to the youths of this country for Goodall Gondwe to call Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima a baby. Goodall started working for the World Bank 51 years ago when he was 35 years old, almost 10 years younger than what Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima is today. We do not think an institution like World Bank would have let a ‘baby’ join its ranks. At 86, Goodall should have been tut-turtling with his great grandchildren than to be anywhere near the Finance Ministry. To age is grace they say and Goodall must lead in advising President Peter Mutharika that that their great grandchildren are missing them.

As much other people have been fortunate enough to draw from the elaborate wisdom of their elders, ours has been an unfortunate case where our elders have only used the youths as a trump card to amass political power and wealth for themselves. In the words of Former UN Secretary General, Kofi Anan, “the current poor state of Africa is as a result of keeping old people in power. Our nomination of Dr Sulos Klaus Chilima is therefore a demonstration of faith in the ability of the youths to fix the problems that Malawians face. We believe we must not be bystanders and watch our political situation degenerate when we know we can do something about it. We believe we must not wait for posterity to judge us harshly.

Route Three: Our Call to Action

We note that the Secretary General of the DPP, Grezdler Wa Jefule has just announced that there will be a convention next months in June, and we know the announcement has been made because of this press conference. However, it seems there is a deliberate choice on the part of the DPP leadership to ignore what the party’s constitution says, and we blame Mutharika for this epidemic. As much as we are happy that it has been announced that our party will have a convention, we will not accept a sham convention that does not conform to the dictates of our constitution, and one that does not meet the minimum requirements of a fair contest

In the first place the Secretary General is not mandated by our constitution to call for a convention. It is the party’s NGC which has the powers to call for a convention and set a date for the same. This is the reason why we view this convention call by the Secretary General as one of her usual armature dramatics. We know we are in a constitution crisis because the mandate of all NGC members has expired, but in the spirit of our constitution, and also in the in the interest of peace, we are calling upon President Mutharika to call for an emergency NGC meeting which must call and set a date for the convention. The NGC will be the body to appoint chairperson for the convention, not the office of the Secretary General.

We expect that convention to be free and fair. In that we call upon the DPP leadership to open up the party so that there is a level playing field for all contestants. The DPP last held its convention five years ago, and there is need to clean and update the voters roll. The voters roll should be vouched by all parties, and those seeking positions should be free to meet and camping among the genuine delegates. Nomination forms should also be made available for all interested members to collect and nominate anyone for various positions without any hindrances.

Eligible members should NOT be blocked from exercising their democratic rights to participate in the elections process because we all belong to the DPP family; a party founded on the principles of democracy and peace. Having said this, we do not expect this process to happen in 30 days. We believe the call by Grezdler Wa Jefule for the convention to be held next month is a deliberate ploy to disadvantage Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima and give unfair advantage to Mutharika. It is also the reason why we will treat that call with the contempt that it deserves. We demand a free and fair convention to be held within a reasonable time frame agreed upon by the party’s NGC, not Wa Jefule’s sham convention.

We also have information of elements within the party who are scheming to victimize us for merely expressing a different opinion. They have planned to hire thugs to beat and kill us for openly supporting Dr Sulos Klaus Chilima; we know these thugs and we know who is sending them. Already, we have been called with all sorts of names from Judases to devils, to ‘aperezi’ simply because we differ with them in our thinking. Members that have openly supported Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima are also being purged out of the party; a very good example is the firing of over 100 district committee members in Kasungu and also the firing of Deputy Regional Governor for the north, Afiki Mbewe. We know many more members will be fired for supporting Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima.

We also have information of plans to block us from meeting delegates who will vote at the convention so that we do not campaign for Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima. There are also plans to create fake electoral colleges with an aim of increasing the number of delegates sympathetic to Mutharika in the southern region. Delegates are being invited to Sanjika Palace where they are given all sorts of inducements including MK 30, 000.00 financial bribes to vote for Mutharika at the convention. This is political corruption that must be investigated. We know the number of DPP delegates in all our political regions, and we will not accept fake delegates to derail the wheels of our progress as a democratic party.

We are also not moved by this sheer disregard of intra-party democracy in the DPP because we know it is the work of a few selfish individuals, and a product of Mutharika’s failed leadership. In fact it is the very reason we want Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima to become our President so that he takes the party out of this lowest moment. In the same vein we urge all party members who are offered money by Mutharika and his cronies to take the money because it is their money, but they must remember not to sell their soul for 30 pieces of Shekels. It is their responsibility to save Malawi by voting for Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima because he represents a new future for the DPP and for Malawi.

PREAMBLE

The reason for calling this press conference is to highlight our position, as bona- fide members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), particularly about our expectations in the forthcoming elective conference. More importantly we want to officially nominate our Vice President, Dr Sulos Klaus Chilima, who is also a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to contest for the position of president at the convention, which we expect to be credible, free and fair.

This meeting follows a conglomeration of events heralded a few months ago by former First Lady, Madam Calista Mutharika, when she expressed the need for leadership change in the DPP in order to increase its chances of winning next year’s elections. We are conducted this press meeting in line with democratic principles and pluralist ethos, upon which the DPP was founded.

Route One: Back ground

In 2013, President Peter Mutharika invited some of us to a meeting at Beneath Trust offices in Limbe, which was attended by Masangwi, Ngalande, Chibingu and some women from our southern region office. At the meeting, Mutharika said he would only be President for five years as his main mission was only to steer the party to power after which he would leave the leadership to someone else younger and more energetic. The issue of age therefore came from Mutharika himself; we are merely reminding him about what came from his own mouth. We therefore want to know what happened for the President to recant from that pledge. Is he suddenly energetic?

Our quest as DPP to fulfill our manifesto pledges after winning the 2014 elections started well. For example, Mutharika appointed a 20 member cabinet like we promised and the Civil Service Reforms started in earnest with our Vice President, Hon. Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima firmly at the helm. However, just when we thought things were steadily progressing, the President made some retrogressive decisions such as the removal of Civil Service Reforms from the office of the Vice President to be iced at the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).

We learned that the reason for the decision was to prevent Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima from becoming politically visible. We learned that the President was advised by his so-called inner circle to remove Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima from the reforms for committing a sin of ‘outshining’ Mutharika politically. We question the wisdom of Mutharika for allowing to be swayed away from important national developmental issues such as the Civil Service Reforms due to such petty and selfish reasons. How did he expect the whole Vice President of the country to work in silence without being visible?

The DPP constitution provides for regular National Governing Council (NGC) meetings per year to allow for process reviews vis-à-vis the implementation of the party’s manifesto. This would have been our opportunity as a party to reflect on whether we are faithful to the mandate given to us by Malawians. However, Mutharika has never called for any NGC meeting since 2013 despite several requests and reminders asking him to call for these crucial meetings for our party. For the past five years, our President has simply been indifferent to the operating framework of the DPP as stipulated in our constitution. He has totally disrespected the mandate of the NGC, which we believe is the reason why our intra-party democracy has suffered.

Article 10 (2) of the DPP constitution clearly spells out that all NGC members, including the President must seek a fresh mandate after five years. As a law Professor and also the one who authored the DPP constitution, Mutharika should have remembered that the party needed to hold its convention before April 2018. Mutharika should have been the first one to understand, respect and follow our ground rules guided by the very constitution that he co-created. We are disappointed that he is the one at the forefront in raping the same constitution and throwing the party he claims to lead into a shameful constitutional crisis.

We believe Mutharika’s failure to call for an NGC meeting for the past five years is the major reason why the DPP has been thrown into the current constitutional crisis where the mandate of all office holders, including that of the President, expired in April this year. Technically, it means all positions are vacant in the DPP; there is no one at the moment who can even call for an NGC meeting. This can only be a sad reality for a ruling party in as far as intra-party democracy is concerned. We know we find ourselves in this crisis because Mutharika created an impenetrable inner clique comprised of friends, personal assistants and close relations which makes all party decisions including making crucial government appointments, which we regard as a colossal anomaly.

For example, Dr George Chaponda lost to Henry Mussa for the position of Treasurer General by a wide margin at our last national convention in 2013, but he was nonetheless made DPP’s Vice President for the southern region, a position solely created for him, and one which does not exist in the constitution of the party. This made Chaponda the most powerful senior DPP member and is ironically lording over the very people that defeated him at the convention. This is happening because our President has chosen to patronize his friends at the expense the party.

Memories are also still fresh about how our President ignored advice to remove Chaponda as Minister of Agriculture when he faced corruption charges over MAIZEGATE. Our advice for Chaponda to be fired consistently fell on deaf ears, and it had to take court action pressure from some CSO’s for him (Mutharika) to finally make the decision. Despite this, Chaponda still maintained his unconstitutional position of DPP Vice President for the southern region, something which is damaging the image of the party. We still don’t believe Chaponda has been acquitted by the court of public opinion to allow him near any senior position in the party; he is still an image risk for DPP.

Our President is also a poor decision maker who over-consults even on simple and straightforward matters. Peter Mutharika was Minister of Education during the academic freedom saga in 2011. As someone with extensive university life experience and also brother to the President, the country naturally expected him to advise his brother to reign in on the situation to end the stalemate. Instead, he went into hiding and became the most absent and disinterested person in the whole saga. As a result, many students suffered due to the prolonged closure of the university; some are yet to finish their courses to date. No wonder today President Mutharika is at the forefront giving beer and MK20, 000.00 bribes to university students in a desperate quest to buy cheap support instead of solving their overreaching challenges such as prohibitive fees and lack of bed space. We want to be emphatic that this President is insensitive to the plight of university students.

It is sad that Mutharika has practically drifted away from his constitutional mandate. We believe the failure of Mutharika’s leadership, particularly his constructive refusal to be held accountable through NGC reviews reduced our capacity as a party to effectively implement our promises to Malawians. For example, we promised Malawians Civil Service Reforms; we promised Malawians a reduction of Presidential powers; we promised Malawians to fight corruption by among other things ensuring the independence of the Anti-Corruption-Bureau (ACB); we promised Malawians that we will abolish the quota system of selecting students to University of Malawians as soon as we assume the reins of power. Today, four years later, Mutharika appears not to have an iota of clue about how to implement these promises.

These are some of the reasons that leave us with no option but to agree with him that he has indeed aged and may not be able to continue beyond his first five years. We find Mutharika’s leadership wanting and deeply flawed; he is a weak leader and must not be allowed to continue carrying the DPP as its President beyond 2019. The people that are prodding Mutharika and cheering him on as a good leader are simply unfair to Malawians; to the DPP but above all, they are being unfair to Mutharika himself.

Route Two: Our Nomination

It is against a backdrop these monumental leadership failures on the part of Mutharika that we would like to officially nominate Vice President of this country, who is also bona fide member of the DPP, his Excellency Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima to contest for the position of president at the next free, fair and credible convention for DPP. The reason why we are nominating Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima to drive the next chapter of our history is because he is a youthful and energetic young man who has demonstrated passion to get things done for the benefit of Malawians. He has also demonstrated that he is an accomplished decision maker even under pressure-cooker circumstances. Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima is a proven winner and a humble performer with exceptional temerity for hard work. He has demonstrated diligence and positive work ethic, something which the Mutharika and his panel of close friends furiously lack.

Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima has all the hallmarks of a transformational leader, and will be a breath of fresh air from the indecisiveness of Mutharika. His passionate sense of value makes him the ideal person to take us forward and steer the DPP ship out of the perennial doldrums that Mutharika has taken us into. Every generation must also rule itself, and Malawi is a young country where a majority of the population is below 65 years of age. It is our conviction therefore that Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima is more disposed to connect with us and understand our challenges better than the disconnection that we are currently experiencing under President Pete Mutharika.

Dr Sulos Klaus Chilima was also born in Malawi; grew up in Malawi; got his education in Malawi and has extensive knowledge of the Malawian private sector having worked there and created employment for many youths for many years. We believe this background gives him the vantage point to effectively respond to the needs of Malawians from different sectors with quick and practical solutions for their myriad challenges. We believe Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima’s leadership would be a significant departure from the procrastinations of Mutharika, whose long stay outside this country is the reason why he is clueless and totally disconnected from common issues that affect Malawians. We believe that is also the reason our President over-consults even on very small and ‘split-second’ decision matters.

Our position does not mean we have anything personal against Prof. Peter Mutharika; in fact we regard him as our father. We only think he is no longer able to provide the kind of leadership that the DPP and Malawi require at this critical time when the country is facing monumental social economic challenges. We respect Prof. Peter Mutharika just like we would respect any other elderly person in the spirit of “ akuluakulu ndi m’dambo mozimila moto”. We want him to rest and keep his legacy and will still be our ‘go to man’ on issues that require his insights. We just don’t think he has the energy levels that his office demands.

Our reason for asking Mutharika to step aside is also not only due to his advanced age, neither is this a youths versus elders confrontation, but we recognize that our elders are a bastion of wisdom, as such our respect for the elderly is beyond question. However, we are also not blind to the fact that a 70 year old does not have the energy of a 40 year old. We are live to the understanding that ageing comes with its own downside. When one is ageing, it is natural to rely more on the support and judgment of others such as your grandchildren and advisors; you therefore become less of your own man. We believe the DPP has been a victim of poor leadership because age has affected Mutharika’s better judgment.

Recently, President Ian Khama of Botswana, a country whose GDP per capita income is $7383.30 or seven times that of Malawi, bequeathed the baton of leadership to his much younger and more energetic deputy, Mokgweetsi Masisi. At 70 years, Khama quietly ceded the stage to his capable deputy so that he enjoys his retirement. The US, the richest and most powerful country in the world has consistently elected men in their 40s to the office of president. Former Presidents like Barak Obama, Bill Clinton, and John F Kennedy all became presidents in their 40s. France elected President Macron at 39 years of age and just recently, Austria elected a 31 year old, Sebastian Kurz, as Prime Minister. These are bigger economies with much higher per capita income than Malawi, and if young people are able to manage such big economies, what is stopping us from doing the same? In fact we do not think Mutharika has anything more to accomplish for Malawi that he did not accomplish in 79 years.

To borrow the wisdom of Mo Ibrahim, we fear the only place that Mutharika’s leadership can take this country would be to its grave. It is also an insult to the youths of this country for Goodall Gondwe to call Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima a baby. Goodall started working for the World Bank 51 years ago when he was 35 years old, almost 10 years younger than what Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima is today. We do not think an institution like World Bank would have let a ‘baby’ join its ranks. At 86, Goodall should have been tut-turtling with his great grandchildren than to be anywhere near the Finance Ministry. To age is grace they say and Goodall must lead in advising President Peter Mutharika that that their great grandchildren are missing them.

As much other people have been fortunate enough to draw from the elaborate wisdom of their elders, ours has been an unfortunate case where our elders have only used the youths as a trump card to amass political power and wealth for themselves. In the words of Former UN Secretary General, Kofi Anan, “the current poor state of Africa is as a result of keeping old people in power. Our nomination of Dr Sulos Klaus Chilima is therefore a demonstration of faith in the ability of the youths to fix the problems that Malawians face. We believe we must not be bystanders and watch our political situation degenerate when we know we can do something about it. We believe we must not wait for posterity to judge us harshly.

Route Three: Our Call to Action

We note that the Secretary General of the DPP, Grezdler Wa Jefule has just announced that there will be a convention next months in June, and we know the announcement has been made because of this press conference. However, it seems there is a deliberate choice on the part of the DPP leadership to ignore what the party’s constitution says, and we blame Mutharika for this epidemic. As much as we are happy that it has been announced that our party will have a convention, we will not accept a sham convention that does not conform to the dictates of our constitution, and one that does not meet the minimum requirements of a fair contest

In the first place the Secretary General is not mandated by our constitution to call for a convention. It is the party’s NGC which has the powers to call for a convention and set a date for the same. This is the reason why we view this convention call by the Secretary General as one of her usual armature dramatics. We know we are in a constitution crisis because the mandate of all NGC members has expired, but in the spirit of our constitution, and also in the in the interest of peace, we are calling upon President Mutharika to call for an emergency NGC meeting which must call and set a date for the convention. The NGC will be the body to appoint chairperson for the convention, not the office of the Secretary General.

We expect that convention to be free and fair. In that we call upon the DPP leadership to open up the party so that there is a level playing field for all contestants. The DPP last held its convention five years ago, and there is need to clean and update the voters roll. The voters roll should be vouched by all parties, and those seeking positions should be free to meet and camping among the genuine delegates. Nomination forms should also be made available for all interested members to collect and nominate anyone for various positions without any hindrances.

Eligible members should NOT be blocked from exercising their democratic rights to participate in the elections process because we all belong to the DPP family; a party founded on the principles of democracy and peace. Having said this, we do not expect this process to happen in 30 days. We believe the call by Grezdler Wa Jefule for the convention to be held next month is a deliberate ploy to disadvantage Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima and give unfair advantage to Mutharika. It is also the reason why we will treat that call with the contempt that it deserves. We demand a free and fair convention to be held within a reasonable time frame agreed upon by the party’s NGC, not Wa Jefule’s sham convention.

We also have information of elements within the party who are scheming to victimize us for merely expressing a different opinion. They have planned to hire thugs to beat and kill us for openly supporting Dr Sulos Klaus Chilima; we know these thugs and we know who is sending them. Already, we have been called with all sorts of names from Judases to devils, to ‘aperezi’ simply because we differ with them in our thinking. Members that have openly supported Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima are also being purged out of the party; a very good example is the firing of over 100 district committee members in Kasungu and also the firing of Deputy Regional Governor for the north, Afiki Mbewe. We know many more members will be fired for supporting Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima.

We also have information of plans to block us from meeting delegates who will vote at the convention so that we do not campaign for Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima. There are also plans to create fake electoral colleges with an aim of increasing the number of delegates sympathetic to Mutharika in the southern region. Delegates are being invited to Sanjika Palace where they are given all sorts of inducements including MK 30, 000.00 financial bribes to vote for Mutharika at the convention. This is political corruption that must be investigated. We know the number of DPP delegates in all our political regions, and we will not accept fake delegates to derail the wheels of our progress as a democratic party.

We are also not moved by this sheer disregard of intra-party democracy in the DPP because we know it is the work of a few selfish individuals, and a product of Mutharika’s failed leadership. In fact it is the very reason we want Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima to become our President so that he takes the party out of this lowest moment. In the same vein we urge all party members who are offered money by Mutharika and his cronies to take the money because it is their money, but they must remember not to sell their soul for 30 pieces of Shekels. It is their responsibility to save Malawi by voting for Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima because he represents a new future for the DPP and for Malawi.

Thank You

Thank You