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Mutharika isn’t a puppet president for Muluzi, says Malawian minister

Mutharika isn’t a puppet president for Muluzi, says Malawian minister
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 3:26:10 AM

MUTHARIKA is not a puppet president for Muluzi, Malawi's transport minister and governing DPP secretary general Chimunthu Banda has charged. Reacting to former president of Malawi Bakili Muluzi's statement that he felt betrayed by his successor Bingu wa Mutharika and that the latter must be voted out during next month's presidential elections, Banda said the former president had mistaken himself before Wa Mutharika became President thinking that he would be his puppet because he campaigned for him.

"Suffice to mention that in any country once a head of state is elected he assumes the role of any other head of state and he performs as is befitting any head of state," said Banda in a telephone interview from Lilongwe in Malawi on Monday. "He [President Mutharika] is not a puppet of any person at whatever level their relationship was and I think it will be unfair for Dr Bakili Muluzi to think Dr Bingu wa Mutharika would be a puppet president just because he campaigned for him to become head of state."

He said Muluzi's statement was out of bitterness.

"Certainly it is sour grapes because you are looking at a person [Muluzi] who wanted to rule Malawi beyond the constitutional two-term, you are also looking at a person who thought that by bringing in Dr Mutharika, Dr Bingu wa Mutharika would be a puppet president and therefore one would certainly say this is more of sour grapes than rational thinking on the part of Dr Muluzi," said Banda, who is also leader of the Malawian Parliament. "If you were to come to Malawi, you would see how the country has changed within the five years Dr Mutharika has been in office."

He claimed that everybody appreciates what President Mutharika had done to Malawi and where he had put Malawi within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and in Africa.

"Therefore, one would not be looking at Bingu as a failure who needs to be removed. Bingu needs to do his two constitutional terms and put Malawi where everybody else would expect the country to be at," Banda said.

He said Muluzi's quest to return to the presidency was historical in Malawi.

"You will recall that towards the end of Dr Bakili Muluzi's term of office, Dr Bingu wa Mutharika was not there he was at the Reserve Bank of Malawi, Dr Muluzi tried to run again. Initially by tabling an Open-ended term of Office bill, which got defeated in Parliament and some of the people who worked so hard to have the bill not passed were people from UDF side itself," Banda explained. "After he failed, Dr Muluzi brought in a Third Term bill because he thought that the first one was rejected because it was thought to bring back life-presidency. So he said let's have a bill for three terms only. When it was on the verge of being defeated in Parliament and when there was uproar throughout the country that bill was also smartly withdrawn from Parliament."

He said now people were still using the same reasons that they used to reject Muluzi's open-ended term of office and Third Term bills in Parliament to oppose his attempts to re-contest the elections for the presidency.

"People have gone back to the [Muluzi's opposition United Democratic Front] UDF Constitution and manifesto; the manifesto of 1993 is very clear, it says: 'the president of UDF shall run for two terms only and he shall not run for the third term of office.' That is not Dr Bingu wa Mutharika, it is a document prepared by the UDF itself," Banda explained. "Therefore, it is very unfair for the former president to attach whatever is happening now to his candidature to Dr Bingu Wa Mutharika. It will be very unfair."

He said President Wa Mutharika had not influenced the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) in any way to bar Muluzi from standing in the May 19 presidential elections.

"The electoral commission which is an independent body has made its pronouncements," said Banda. "All in all election campaigns are going on very well and all political parties have been given a go-ahead by the Malawi Electoral Commission to start their campaigns and campaigners are going all over the country."

On Sunday, Muluzi told The Post that President Wa Mutharika must go.

"He [Mutharika] is the man who was voted in by the UDF, United Democratic Front; he leaves the party in a very abnormal manner. You don't leave a party that ushered you into power. To me there is no personal difference with Mutharika. It's just because of his personal conduct that is why I am very disgusted with whatever happened; come the next election he must go," Muluzi said. "Of course we feel betrayed. Yes, I feel very much betrayed."

The MEC disqualified Muluzi on March 20, 2009 from contesting the elections on the basis that he already served his limit two five-year-term from 1994 to 2004 and is ineligible to stand for the presidency.

However, Muluzi, who was widely expected to be President Wa Mutharika's main opponent in the election, is challenging the MEC's decision in court arguing that after serving for two consecutive terms he had a break therefore he is eligible to stand as a presidential candidate.

Muluzi's UDF party is negotiating with John Tembo's opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) to form an electoral coalition aimed at defeating President Mutharika, who is re-contesting his position under his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Six male and one female candidate are contesting the May 19, 2009 presidential elections in Malawi.

Among the contenders are President Wa Mutharika [DPP], Tembo [MCP], James Nyondo [independent], Loveness Gondwe [National Rainbow Coalition], Stanley Masauli [Republican Party], Dindi Gowa Nyasulu [Alliance for Democracy] and Kamuzu Chibambo [PETRA].

Labels: BAKILI MULUZI, BINGU WA MUTHARIKA

posted by MrK @ 2:27 AM