By Morton Sibale
President Arthur Peter Mutharika’s runningmate for the coming fresh election, Atupele Muluzi on Saturday afternoon addressed a campaign rally at Masintha Ground in Lilongwe, in what was a first major rally of the DPP-UDF alliance in the capital city.
Muluzi, who is the president for the United Democratic Front (UDF) which has partnered the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the election told the mammoth crowd that once re-elected, the Mutharika-led government will continue to initiate more development projects.
Muluzi also reprimanded the MCP-UTM alliance for focusing on tarnishing the image of his father (former President Bakili Muluzi) instead of focusing on what they will do for the Malawian people once voted into power.
“Our alliance is about development. This is why when I address a campaign rally, I am only emphasizing on development issues.
They (MCP and UTM) do not have ideas to develop the country which is why they are concentrating on tarnishing the image of my father,” Muluzi told the rally.
While highlighting some of the developments the DPP-led government has delivered in the past six years, Muluzi called on the crowd to vote for the alliance for continued development of the country.
He highlighted among others reduced inflation and interest rates and road infrastructure.
“Our government will prioritize food security. You have seen that President Mutharika has already opened 15 irrigation schemes, including Bwanje in Dedza.
We will also introduce special cash transfer for university graduates to start businesses,” said Muluzi.
The young Muluzi also promised that the DPP-UDF alliance will work to end blackouts once voted into power.
He also promised that he and Mutharika will be hitting the campaign trail together where they will highlight more development blueprint the alliance has outlined.
Other notable faces who spoke at the rally included DPP’s Campaign Director, Everton Chimulirenji, UDF Publicity Secretary, Ken Ndanga, Secretary General Kandi Padambo and DPP’s National Governing Council (NGC) Member, Hetherwick Ntaba.
Ntaba particularly faulted the Constitutional Court that nullified last year’s poll on its interpretation of Section 80 (1) of the Constitution, saying the framers of the republican constitution did not mean 50%+1 when they said a President should be elected by the majority.
“I was part of the framers (of the Constitution) and we did not provide for 50%+1. On 25 February 1995, I was part of the Committee that was set up to clarify
What the section means and at a conference, it was made clear that ‘majority’ in the section meant ‘first-past-the-post,” Ntaba said.
The rally also saw the DPP-UDF alliance welcoming into its fold former UTM Deputy Secretary General, Levy Luwemba, who during his speech said he had quit the UTM because it has been swallowed by the Malawi Congress Party.
This was the first major rally that the young Muluzi conducted in Lilongwe since he was picked as running mate for President Mutharika in the fresh election slated for June 23, 2020.
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