By Burnett Munthali
According to news circulating on various media houses, former governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has gagged its members from speaking to the press, restricting the role to Peter Mutharika’s spokesperson Shadric Namalomba.
However, some party officials faulted the order on Sunday, 30 April 2023, saying they will not yield to such dictatorial decrees.
The statement the party released on Sunday signed by Namalomba follows divisions in the party after some regional committee leaders have been trading insults after endorsing Mutharika to lead the party in the 2025 Tripartite Elections.
It also follows outbursts by the party’s regional governor for the South, Charles Mchacha who last week urged Mutharika to hand over power as per his promise.
But Namalomba said before engaging the media, the members must first seek consent from Mutharika, further advising the media to avoid engaging other members on official party business, except him.
“The president of the party is, therefore, encouraging all members of the party to refrain from speaking to, and with the press on party matters. Furthermore, the media is strongly encouraged to contact the official spokesperson of the party for all party matters,” he said.
But DPP national publicity secretary Nicholas Dausi, who was elected at the party’s 2018 convention, said he will not obey such orders.
“I am the publicity secretary for DPP. I was elected at the convention. It’s only the convention that can tell me not to speak,” he said.
The Mwanza Central legislator said in a democracy, the power to have a position is through elections, not appointments.
“In my case, I don’t speak on behalf of an individual, but for the party. Until we go to a convention and elect another person, only that time can the party have power to start restraining people from doing their constitutional role,” he said.
He said it was important that the convention takes place before the expiry of the tenure for the current national governing council (NGC) in July this year.
DPP vice-presidents Goodall Gondwe (North ) and Zer i a Chakale (Central) and regional governors Christopher Mzomera- Ngwira (North), David Kambalame (Centre) and Mchacha (South) all endorsed Mutharika to be the torchbearer in 2025 despite APM himself not openly expressing interest to stand.
However, Mchacha, who was fired by the party and reinstated on the position by the court last week, said the current endorsements of Mutharika by other members were against the party’s constitution.
Governance and political pundit George Phiri said the DPP chaos only signals a broken party, with no one to provide direction.
He said: “If people don’t know who is leading, everyone decides to lead, and that is what is happening in the DPP.
“Mutharika has a problem of organising the party in a way that it should recognise positions of people elected during the convention in 2018. Namalomba was not elected at that convention , it was Dausi.”
However, here’s what is supposed to happen in every party.
Party spokesperson
A party spokesperson (also known as party spokesman or party spokeswoman) is any member of a political party (at any regional level of the party structure) who is charged by the leaders of the party with communicating the party’s position on specific portfolios. Party spokespersons largely feature in political parties of parliamentary systems. Party spokespersons can also be assisted in their duties by deputy or assistant spokespersons in the same portfolio.
Parliamentary party spokespersons
Spokespersons of a ruling party are coterminous with their roles as ministers in the government cabinet, and spokespersons of the leading opposition party (usually in Westminster system parliaments, where they’re called the “Official Opposition”) are coterminous with their roles as shadow ministers in the shadow cabinet; both are usually called “front benchers”. A minor parliamentary/legislative party (be it in or out of coalition with a government cabinet or official opposition shadow cabinet) may have its own set of spokespersons and respective portfolios, although they are often considered during parliamentary debates with lesser courtesy than the government or official opposition’s cabinets; in Ireland, for example, all parliamentary parties with at least 7 elected members have their own front benches, while those with less than 7 elected members must agree with other independent MPs to form a technical group in order to gain speaking rights.
Non-parliamentary party spokespersons
Non-parliamentary parties or parties with very few elected parliament members (that is, not enough to effectively spread policy communication duties) may also have their own non-parliamentary spokespersons and respective portfolios, despite not possessing speaking rights in parliament (or sometimes, as in extra-parliamentary opposition, abstaining from seeking office). They are more likely to speak for the party to media outlets or other organizations.
Therefore, I don’t see where confusion in the DPP is coming from.
