BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Balaka north constituency Member of Parliament, Lucius Banda, who is also United Democratic Front (UDF) senior member, on Tuesday alleged that chiefs in his constituency were forced to denounce him in front of cameras of one of the television stations in the country.
Banda, posted on his facebook wall, accusing the district DPP governor of arranging the nasty politics.
“As l am in Lilongwe doing parliamentary committee work, I keep receiving phone calls from chiefs of Balaka who are saying this afternoon they were forced to denounce me in front of video cameras from one of the TV stations.
?”They were told that if they don’t speak ill about me to the TV crew, they will be fired from their chieftainsy,” Banda wrote on the FB wall.
?He further alleges that the event was arranged by the district governor of a party in power (DPP). He said he wants to assure the chiefs they are being abused, but that he understands their situation.
The musician-turned-politician, said God on hid side, and that he shall not fear a human being.
Banda’s allegations come amid a fierce verbal war between him and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) over the ruling party and UDF alliance.
He is the only UDF legislator who openly defied his party’s position to move from the opposition to the government side in Parliament.
Recently, Banda exchanged words with President Peter Mutharika over the alliance issue.
Mutharika said Banda was “misguided” during the official opening of the Mangochi Technical College on March 25. Mangochi is a UDF stronghold.
Mutharika said the two parties would continue working together despite strong opposition from “one misguided Member of Parliament”, in an apparent reference to the legislator.
Reacting, Banda said the president made the remarks out of ignorance.
“As a UDF Member of Parliament, and, indeed, the party’s leader in the House at the time the so-called coalition was agreed upon, I have not seen, nor [sic] have I ever been presented with a signed document cementing a working union between the DPP and my beloved United Democratic Front,” Banda said in the statement.
The DPP, as previous governing political parties before, is good at using the state-owned television MBC, to discredit those deemed to be political enemies. Malawi Congress Party (MCP) President Lazarus Chakwera has already fallen victim to the television’s foul politics.