By Lovemore Khomo
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Publicity Secretary Nicholas Dausi has called upon former state President and incumbent president for the party, Professor Peter Mutharika to face convention before 2nd of July, 2023 and stop relying on regional blocks endorsement.
Speaking during a pressing briefing on Thursday in Lilongwe, Dausi said DPP constitution stipulates that every member has a right to contest in any position complemented by democratic principles.
“Our constitution has democratic values, if former president Mutharika wants to stand, let him do so and should clearly come out. But he will face other contenders at the convention. Let’s not be intimidated by others.” Dausi explained,
He added, “In each and every 5 years we are mandated to have a convention which could give us a potential candidate for the party. And we need a convention before 2 July this year to nominate a candidate for 2025 General Elections.”
DPP Publicity Secretary also expressed the need for unification of its members in order to get back into the glory days.
He points out some problems that led them ousted from government and the need to reorganize the party for it to win peoples’ vote of confidence.
“We could have sat down to analyze what went wrong and made us be ousted from power.” He said
Dausi, who spoke in the presence of scores of DPP members of Parliament, expressed concern over the party’s failure to conduct National Governing Council meetings since 2020.
Mulanje West MP Yusuf Nthenda who is a lawyer by profession, said Chapter 10 of the party constitution requires the party to meet once a year for its National Governing Council.
Meanwhile, Ralph Jooma from Mangochi Monkey Bay advised all party followers not to mislead their followers by coming up with endorsements that have no meaning.
“It is a shame for 4-5 people come out and start endorsements without even having regional meetings, it is a bad behavior. APM has never been nominated, nor nominated by himself. So, endorsements are done when a member is nominated.” Jooma said.
Some party leaders within DPP have been holding meetings where they publicly made endorsement of APM as a 2025 torch bearer. However, the move has attracted backlash with the partnership.
