BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has distanced itself from a document that was authored by one of its top officials, Ken Msonda, which among others is attacking the judiciary on how the Presidential Election case was managed.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lilongwe on Tuesday, DPP spokesperson Nicholas Dausi said his party respects the judiciary “and cannot sink so low to make a statement against another arm of government.”
“We know that Mr. Msonda is a member of DPP and we will definitely make sure that disciplinary measures will be taken against him. We are not going to allow anybody to use the party anyhow.
“We regret the document, but I can assure all Malawians that it is not coming from the DPP,” said Dausi.
He added: “DPP as a party we have channels of communicating to the public. Any DPP document has my signature as the party’s spokesperson.”
Defending himself, Msonda, who was present at the briefing alongside the party’s Secretary General Grezeldar Jeffrey, Organizing Secretary Chimwemwe Chipungu, youth leader Dyton Mussa, and Regional Governor for the Centre Dennis Kambalame, acknowledged to have authored the said document but said through his organization called Think Tank.
He said, through the document, he was expressing his opinion just as other Malawians have on how the judicially managed the election case.
“That document has nothing to do with the party. It is not a party document. It is my document.
“As a citizen of this country I have a right to express my views on matters of national interest. In that document I was just expressing my feelings regarding the election case,” he said.
Taking their turns, both Grezeldar Jeffrey and Chimwemwe Chipungu said all official DPP documents bear the signature of Jeffrey in her capacity as the parties Secretary General.
On 3 February, 2020, a panel of five High court Judges in Malawi, sitting as a constitutional court, ordered a re-run of an election won by the incumbent President, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.
Since then, the judiciary has been subjected to criticism and insults from the DPP supporters.
A month ago, the ruling DPP supporters also took to the streets protesting the court judgment, saying the judges were bribed by the opposition to rule in their favour.
