Balaka North Member of Parliament (MP) Lucius Banda, the only United Democratic Front (UDF) legislator to openly defy his party’s position to move from the opposition to the government side in Parliament, has hit back at President Peter Mutharika for describing him as a “misguided” MP.
Mutharika said Banda was “misguided” during the official opening of the Mangochi Technical College on March 25. Mangochi is a UDF stronghold.
The President digressed from his prepared speech to address the issue of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and UDF coalition, saying the two parties would continue working together despite strong opposition from “one misguided Member of Parliament”.
In a statement released on Sunday, Banda said he had decided to respond to Mutharika’s sentiments since “I am that one MP”.
“I believe the President’s comments were made out of ignorance because he is misguided and ill-advised. I consider [that] the President’s reference to the DPP/UDF coalition is an illusion because no such alliance or union exists.
“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 never 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 says in the statement.
He adds that, despite pestering UDF President Atupele Muluzi to show him documents backing the agreement between the two parties, in order for him to appreciate the benefits of being in such a relationship, his calls have fallen on deaf ears.
Banda says he is surprised that two trained lawyers can claim to be in a relationship that, in essence, does not exist.
“This is strange because both DPP leader Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika and his UDF counterpart Austin Atupele Muluzi are First World-trained lawyers and one thinks that they ought to know that a document signed by both parties forms the basis of any legal agreement. In this age and era, a signed document is key to all transactions. Even my Uncle Chemwelera at Sosola Village in Balaka knows that he has to sign a legally binding document when he is borrowing katapila from the village loan shark.
“This is basic law. And so, as someone who loves this country dearly and wishes the President well, I encourage President Mutharika to desist from commenting on something that does not exist lest he is exposed as someone who is misguided, disillusioned and deluded,” Banda says..
The Balaka North legislator then describes Mutharika’s Mangochi speech as a lost opportunity.
He says the ruling party should have used the opportunity to address national issues, instead of focusing on less important issues.
“For example, the President should have told the people of Mangochi about what his government is doing about the case of Mangochi’s favourite son Issa Njauju who was brutally and mercilessly murdered in the line of duty while serving in the President’s administration. Or, [sic] the President should have updated the people on how his government intends to revive the Greenbelt Initiative, of which Mangochi was supposed to be a primary beneficiary,” Banda says.
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