…it would be a secret ballot, regional governors have no influence-Mpasu
…the only problem in the Chilumpha campaign is financial prowess-Analyst
IT seems the new UDF presidential hopeful Vice President Cassim Chilumpha will have a tough time to convince the party’s regional governors that he is a better candidate than party Chairman Bakili Muluzi for the 2009 presidential election.
Four regional governors from the east, south, central and north, who already pledged their support for Muluzi have openly said their regions are not yet ready to abandon the former head of state for Chilumpha.
However, former UDF spokesperson Sam Mpasu, who has shown his direct support to Chilumpha, said there is no need to get worried with the regional governors’ pronouncements since he said the voting at the April 27 convention will be a secret ballot and the governors will just be part of the delegates without any influence on individual voting.
Eastern region Governor Abbubakar Mbaya in an interview said as a region they are still for Muluzi because he said it was the people who asked Muluzi to stand and the region can not go against the wishes of the people at grass roots level.
“Nobody asked Chilumpha to stand, Chilumpha want to stand on his own. As a party and as a region we are going to go by what was already agreed,” said Mbaya, while refuting that it was not true that Zomba district, which is part of his region has already endorsed Chilumpha.
Mbaya said although the initial endorsement was made when Muluzi was a lone candidate with Chilumpha joining the race the leadership of the party in the region would not go back to the people to seek fresh views.
Southern region Governor MacDonald Symon also said the region is for Muluzi.
“Actually in this region people are saying that if they are given another candidate they will not vote. They already said they will go for Atcheya which means whether we will have 10 or 20 candidates it is still Atcheya who people in the south will go for,” he said.
Kajisu Gondwe, regional governor for the north, also said the region is still for Muluzi.
“I am speaking for the whole north and take me seriously. We have about 502 delegates from the north and when we go to the convention we are all going to vote for the Chair. As a region we have to go there with one voice,” he said
Gondwe said the northern region was not worried with possibilities of Muluzi being barred from standing saying as a region they are not doing things blindly, they have already consulted their lawyers who have assured them that they can go ahead and vote for Muluzi.
“Democracy is about decisions. Muluzi has rested for five years and want to come back what is wrong with that?” he added.
He also said the executive in the region will not go back to the people to seek fresh views because they are convinced that people in the region are satisfied with what Muluzi did for the region in the ten years that he had been in power.
Central region Governor John Banda also said the region will go for a candidate who has been assisting the party.
“Come and ask me after the convention, it is the convention that would answer whether Chilumpha has people. But what I can say as a region we are going to vote for someone who has been assisting the party and by assisting the party we are not talking of money but conducting rallies to build the party,” he said.
Apparently Chilumpha who has been under house arrest since 2005 after being arrested for allegedly planning to assassinate President Bingu wa Muntharika has not been conducting any rallies due to his arrest and it is only Muluzi who has been holding rallies while selling his come back idea.
Chancellor College political analyst Blessings Chisinga said the regional governors were getting Chilumpha’s intention to stand wrongly because he said it is the same UDF Constitution that that gives the liberty to each individual member of the party to freely contest without necessarily being asked by the people.
“This is the strategy Muluzi has used, as has always been using, to convince people that it was not his intention to stand but that he was asked by people to stand. Procedurally anybody is at liberty to declare his interest even without being asked,” said Chisinga.
However, Chisinga said the problem with Chilumpha’s candidature was that he has come into the race a ‘rather a little too late.’
He said to show his seriousness Chilumpha could have come a long time ago.
“The mark of a good leader is the willingness to take risks and make sacrifices,” he added.
Chisinga, however, said Chilumpha still stands a chance of successfully challenging Muluzi if he has support from the party’s big guns.
“These party’s big wigs have support in their constituencies and if Chilumpha has support amongst them that is good for him, he stands a better chance,” he said.
So far it is only Mpasu who has come in the open supporting Chilumpha’s campaign while other big wigs like Friday Jumbe, George nga Ntafu and Brown Mpinganjira have not come in the open as to which side they have their vote on although reports revealed that there were part of secret meetings which were being held at Chilumpha’s residence.
Chisinga, however, said the only obstacle to Chilumpha’s bid would be matching financial prowess with Muluzi, who has already pledged a total of K11.5 million to support the party’s indaba.
Muluzi has always been known as the major benefactor of the party since its inception and has always been dishing out money to party supporters during his rallies.
“There is likely to be a huge dilemma among other influential members as to who they should support, whether to support a viable candidate or who has the financial power to support the party,” he said.
Chisinga said the dilemma will come up because defeating Muluzi will in some way mean the end of the party because he said the former head of state is the one who supports the party financially.
He also said defeating Muluzi would put the party in a tricky situation since he said the convention is done closer to the general elections.
“If the convention was done two years ago and Muluzi was defeated the party could have had ample time to rebuild itself,” said Chisinga.
Mpasu in an interview said since the UDF Constitution requires voting through a secret ballot Chilumpha’s camp would not be worried with the regional governors.
“The whole thing has to be looked at in line with the UDF Constitution. Regional governors are just delegates to the convention just like anyone else and they can not have influence on individual voting through a secret ballot. Endorsement of a candidate is not part of the UDF Constitution it is just part of campaign,” he said.
On how financially stable is the Chilumpha campaign Mpasu said although money is important in every political endeavour it is not decisive in the voting process.
“People vote for ideas, we have seen people with little money winning an election because not everybody is interested in being bribed,” he said.
Mpasu gave an example of the UDF of 1994 which he said had no money but won the election against the financially sound Malawi Congress Party (MCP) of the then late Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
