Business in Blantyre Central Business District came to a standstill on Wednesday following snaking queues of vehicles and mammoth crowds of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters who blocked major streets to welcome President Peter Mutharika from Mangochi.
But DPP Publicity Secretary Francis Kasaila Thursday denied it was the party’s supporters who blocked the roads; instead, he said it was traffic police officers who were simply performing their duties.
Normal business was disrupted from around noon as the streets were blocked by DPP followers as they waited their leader’s arrival.
Mutharika only arrived around 4pm at the Clock Tower where a crowd of supporters had gathered since noon and disrupted the flow of traffic.
From the Clock Tower, it took almost an hour for his convoy to get to Sanjika Palace as it was escorted by marching party supporters who were singing songs in his praise.
Throughout the time, motorists, who had been blocked for about an hour before the President’s arrival, were still waiting for him to pass.
Mutharika’s convoy arrived at Sanjika Palace where he addressed the supporters at around 5:30pm.
In their defence, Kasaila said the supporters were marching in the streets as the roads were already blocked by the traffic police officers.
“You can write whatever you want to write but we see nothing wrong with that. Wherever the President goes in the country, roads are blocked for a while and the situation in Blantyre was not new. Recently, [Malawi Congress Party president] Dr Lazarus Chakwera went to Salima on a very long convoy but you did not write anything; has it gone wrong because this time it is the DPP? As a party, we cannot stop supporting our president,” he said
National Police spokesperson James Kadadzera asked for more time to inquire from some officials within the police service about the situation in Blantyre during the President’s arrival before responding to our questions.
At Sanjika Palace main gate, Mutharika, who spoke for a few minutes, apologised to his party supporters for keeping them waiting, saying a lot of party supporters all the way from Mangochi wanted to see him.
While in Mangochi, where he had stayed for a week, Mutharika performed several government functions such as launching a water plant during the World Water Day commemorations and opening Mangochi Technical College.
Leave a Reply