1. He says he is not rich, but he is a wealthy young 39-year-old man. His wealth is clean, no stains, and it stems from 22 years of doing honest and responsible business driven by hard work and sharing opportunities.
2. Founding DPP leader and late President Bingu wa Mutharika inspired and challenged him, in 2006, to begin getting interested in politics because of his water-tight development ideologies as enshrined in the DPP Constitution. However, despite calls from the constituency to stand as their parliament dating back to 2006, Lipipa avoided frontline politics because of the mudslinging that comes with it. He only succumbed in 2019 after his family convinced him that serving people’s political needs is also part of serving God.
3. He is not a ‘YES-BWANA’ type of a politician. He is forthright and he speaks out when leaders stray from the wishes of the people that put them in office. Because such a stand, he was never a likeable chap in the top leadership of DPP. He was considered a rebel, a spy and disrespectful.
4. He is still a die-DPP member and he will not leave the party. He believes DPP, as an institution, is not corrupt; rather, there are few people who were corrupt and must face the law for that. Lipipa challenged that DPP is still a strong and daring party and if it returns to its formative ideals and philosophies, as enshrined in its Constitution, the party will be back in power in 2025.
5. He is convinced that DPP lost power because of immense corrupt activities among some of its top leaders. He believes President Peter Mutharika should have listened to voices of people that were demonstrating against increased corruption in his government. He feels that those close to the President deliberately let him down by putting a lid on his ear so that he doesn’t listen to the voice of people.
He underlines that had President Mutharika taken the voices of the people seriously and acted on them, DPP could still have been in power today.
6. On his relationship with vice president Saulos Chilima, he said he knew the UTM leader long time ago even before politics happened. He added that they have always been friends and, in 2014 when Chilima joined mainstream politics, they agreed that no matter what, politics should not separate them.
7. He says he is a clean politician and he will gladly, until he retires, remain so. The K5 billion COVID-19 deal and the ESCOM 40 Litres scandal he was allegedly involved were all laughable creations by those who always aim at destroying his name.
His company, Lab Enterprises, never submitted a bid to supply COVID-19 materials to government. On Escom, he just laughed it off, saying, one, he doesn’t have vehicles with such registration numbers; and two, he is well stocked to take 40 000 liters from ESCOM. He also revealed that he donates to his constituency the 500 litres of fuel he gets as allowance from parliament.
He challenged that he is ready for a lifestyle AUDIT if there are some in doubt of his dealings. 8. His last message to DPP members: Let’s not rush into joining Tonse Alliance; the country needs a strong opposition and DPP is well placed for that.
He advised his party members to cultivate a culture of always telling each other the truth. He added that the DPP’s Constitution stands against corruption and if there is anyone in DPP involved in such, then that person is not a member but an impostor. He has since asked all those being implicated in corrupt dealing to step aside from the party’s leadership.
(Summarised by Charles Ulaya)
