{"id":63592,"date":"2018-04-06T12:05:55","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T10:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=63592"},"modified":"2018-04-06T12:10:23","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T10:10:23","slug":"callista-mutharika-favours-saulos-chilima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2018\/04\/06\/callista-mutharika-favours-saulos-chilima\/","title":{"rendered":"Callista Mutharika favours Saulos Chilima"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Former first lady, Callista Mutharika, has declared that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) cannot win the 2019 presidential elections if it features President Peter Mutharika as its candidate.<\/p>\n

In a WhatsApp <\/em>post on a forum of the Association of former Members of Parliament (MPs), the former first lady also throws her weight behind Vice-President Saulos Chilima, encouraging him to present himself as DPP presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonourable members, just to let you know that I, Callista Bingu wa Mutharika, is one member that is supporting and encouraging Right Honourable Saulos Chilima to represent DPP as a presidential candidate in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I hear certain quarters are unhappy with my move and [are] planning to finish me [off]. Meanwhile, help me watch and see how they will finish me [off]. Chilima [is] our hope for a better Malawi,\u201d she declares.<\/p>\n

Chilima, who has kept his ambitions under wraps for sometime, is seen as a threat to some people in the party\u2019s politburo but his popularity in the rank and file has grown in the last few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf DPP wants to win, then it has to change the leadership. Let them do a survey if they want to find out the truth. Patsogolo ndi <\/em>democracy,\u201d she writes.<\/p>\n

Chairperson of the WhatsApp <\/em>forum for former MPs, Clement Stambuli, confirmed in an interview Thursday that Mutharika wrote the post<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a posting where Madam Callista Bingu wa Mutharika was putting it to the notice of members that she is having threats from undisclosed sources for allegedly supporting the current veep as a [DPP] torch-bearer come 2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, Stambuli played down fears that the alleged threats might gag forum members from commenting freely on political issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are not the kind of people that can be intimidated. It\u2019s a grouping of leaders: former MPs, former Cabinet ministers, former speakers\u2026,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mutharika was non-committal when we contacted her on Wednesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n

Personal Assistant to the Vice President, Pilirani Phiri, refused to comment on the matter.<\/p>\n

But Mutharika\u2019s sentiments have rubbed the DPP the wrong way.<\/p>\n

DPP secretary general, Glesselder Jeffrey, said the former first lady must behave or face the wrath of her own party.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the former first lady has family issues, let her sort out those issues without dragging the DPP into them [issues]. If she does not respect herself, we shall not respect her. It failed in Zimbabwe (for a first lady to succeed a president) and it will fail in Malawi,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey alleged that Mutharika is using Chilima\u2019s name when, actually, she is the one who wants power.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur candidate is Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika (APM). Everyone in DPP, including Chilima, is supporting the President,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Quizzed to justify her claims that Chilima is not interested in the presidency, Jeffrey said Chilima does not have such ambitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaulos Chilima has not come to me to say that he will contest at the convention. Even if he were to do an underground campaign, I would know that some boys are doing something. Our candidate is APM, whether one likes it or not,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Chancellor College political analyst, Happy Kayuni, advised the former first lady to desist from commenting on political issues as other former first ladies have done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very, very questionable and wrong [for this] to come from the first lady\u2026we look up to them as mothers who should advise on issues of HIV and Aids, girl empowerment and not politics,\u201d Kayuni said.<\/p>\n

Repor ts of an uneasy relationship between APM and the former first lady have been making rounds for a while. Mutharika once appointed Callista as an adviser on safe motherhood but fired her soon after he wedded first lady Gertrude Mutharika.<\/p>\n

There are also reports of bad blood between the President and his vice as some DPP operatives reportedly believe that Chilima is becoming more popular than his boss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former first lady, Callista Mutharika, has declared that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) cannot win the 2019 presidential elections if it features President Peter Mutharika as its candidate. In a WhatsApp post on a forum of the Association of former Members of Parliament (MPs), the former first lady also throws her weight behind Vice-President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":63594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63596,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63592\/revisions\/63596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}