Finally, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has announced that the much-awaited party convention is on this month.
This is not surprising at all as it is not news because there has been pressure piling on the party leadership to call for the indaba in a bid to end the endless political squabbles the party is going through.
I was, however, taken aback when I heard one of the Chilima movement officials, Mulanje South legislator Bon Kalindo,saying that the movement is not amused with the announcement simply because the party has not followed its constitution.
Kalindo thinks the best way is to hold a National Governing Council (NGC) meeting first so that the governing body of the party can make a waiver to allow DPP secretary general, Grazeldar Jeffrey, to call for the convention.
His reasoning is that Jeffrey and others, including President Peter Mutharika, do not hold any positions in the party because their mandate expired in March 2018.
However, if the party has not held any convention since 2013, Kalindo and others in the Chilima movement might as well be asking for too much, an unattainable thing in history since Peter took over from his brother Bingu as party leader.
DPP spokesperson, Francis Kasaila, said this week that the party would not hold the NGC meeting because there is no agenda.
I do not know why party officials think there is no agenda when Mutharika and Vice-President Saulos Chilima have been meeting behind the curtains at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre to find a lasting solution to problems that have emerged in the party as the two leaders reportedly fight for leadership.
This is the reason the NGC should meet to discuss and probably find a lasting solution to the problem which is now serious. It is serious because it has divided the once mighty and powerful party.
Another issue the NGC could discuss is threat of violence against the Chilima movement after the Mutharika faction has been threatening to beat up, harass or bar Chilima movement delegates from popping up at the convention.
The NGC can help identify delegates for both Mutharika and Chilima factions, endorse them before the convention and allow them to vote in a fair, free and credible election. Otherwise, this senseless noise of just “endorsing” Mutharika is irritating our ears.
This is the reason I think Kalindo is sceptical of the convention, that it wil l just use the opportunity to “endorse” Mutharika as presidential candidate.
We are told that the Sanjika Palace meeting between Mutharika and Chilima failed to yield the intended results.
This was shocking, although not surprising, because Chilima knows that the concessions Mutharika put on the table for the Chilima movement to disband might not be honoured.
Chilima might take the offer of being the running mate to Mutharika but there is no guarantee that the President would honour this offer come the appointment date.
The DPP can go back to history when the United Democratic Front faced the same situation when it just endorsed Bingu wa Mutharika as presidential candidate for the party, leaving out the then vice-president Justin Malewezi, late Aleke Banda, Harry Thomson and others. This left the party in tatters. Today, it is struggling to come back to the political stage.
Mutharika and his DPP should tread carefully on this matter.
This can be the beginning of the end of DPP. This is the fact of the matter.
Mutharika won by a mere 36 percent in the 2014 presidential election. This was when the party was intact. Now he is taking the fractured DPP to the 2019 general elections. He should be cautious.
Coming from the opposition in 2014 to win the election is not a guarantee that he would maintain his position in government during the 2019 election.
Former president Joyce Banda was knocked down at the ballot box during the 2014 election. She was pushed to position three in the presidential race, which is rare for a sitting president.
This is the reason I say it again that, for the party to be strong, it should hold NGC meeting so that delegates can discuss, debate and come up with solutions if the party is not to be outdone by the opposition Malawi Congress Party.
Failure to recognise the Chilima movement is living in denial and most people who do so die and DPP could be heading for death.
DPP must, therefore, recognise that there is Chilima, an aspiring presidential candidate in 2019, who has a right to aspire and run for the office of the president of the Republic of Malawi.
However, due to the time factor, I strongly feel the party can skip the NGC meeting and go straight to the convention to elect its leaders.
Mutharika should, however, know that he has failed DPP supporters for his failure to call for NGC meeting for five years.
However, as I have alluded to earlier, Chilima and his supporters should not put spanners in plans to hold the convention. The movement should take the convention positively and contest for all positions in the party.
I do not think this is the time to put this condition, or that condition, because followers of Mutharika will take advantage of that to leave the Chilima faction behind.
The way things are now, the Chilima faction has no option but to participate in the party convention elections unless the movement has plan B and that is to have Chilima stand in the presidential election as an independent candidate.
This is why it is imperative for Chilima and his lieutenants to participate in the election as long as they are assured of their security, fair and credible elections and that either Mutharika or Chilima would concede defeat after the polls because, at the end of the day, only one person would emerge winner and be DPP presidential candidate.
Otherwise, the Chilima faction should not lose this opportunity. Who knows, the Vice-President might knock out the President at the party polls!
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