Malawi Congress Party president was on Sunday cagey whether his party was preparing for a coalition with other opposition parties ahead of the next general elections in 2019.
On Sunday, opposition People’s Party vice president Kamlepo Kalua and Alliance for Democracy president Enock Chihana attended Chakwera’s rally held at Kalambo in Lilongwe’s Area 25.
When asked to clarify what the development means, Chakwera said there was nothing strange about the parties working together outside Parliament.
“We do have some common interests as Members of Parliament that sit on one side of the House, representing the opposition. But we have some time to look into what this all means as it unfolds in future because we intend to be informing Malawians issues that we raise in Parliament together,” Chakwera.
Pressed if this is the beginning of a coalition for 2019, Chakwera said: “As I have explained, we will cross the bridge when we get there. This is just the beginning of something you could look up to.”
Kalua, who was given an opportunity to speak at the function, stressed the idea of all opposition parties working together.
“We cannot say we do different things from MCP. MCP is an opposition party. I don’t see any difference in what the PP does and what MCP does. MCP leader is the official leader of the opposition. We agreed that we should all come. We should attend this rally,” Kalua said.
Chihana said all opposition political parties would like to form one front.
“We just want to put up a front as opposition because we have seen that even in Parliament, we do things together. I think we have the same position as things stand now in this country,”
When asked whether this will continue up to 2019:
“No it’s too early. We are taking thins as they come. We will see what will happen when we reach 2019 because 2019 is too far,”
Despite the presence of leaders of other political parties, Chakwera also tackled other issues affecting his party.
“We shouldn’t behave like we do not know the four cornerstones. These people [PP and Aford leaders] should not be working with people who are always fighting against each other. It’s not a good to wash dirty linen in public. We have to maintain unity, loyalty, obedience and discipline,” Chakwera said.
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