A top official in Malawi President Bakili Muluzi’s ruling party has resigned in protest over what he described as Muluzi’s imposition of a hand-picked successor, he said on Saturday.
Aleke Banda (64) said that the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Muluzi has picked to succeed him in presidential elections next year was unsuitable ”because he is completely unknown and had no track record”.
And another UDF stalwart, Speaker of Parliament Sam Mpasu said on Saturday he would not accept a recent ministerial appointment by Muluzi.
Two weeks ago Muluzi appointed Bingu wa Mutharika as his successor to stand as the ruling party’s candidate in presidential elections due in May 2004.
Banda, a long-serving member of the government who held presidential aspirations, was passed over for the job. He was also fired as the country’s agriculture minister.
The ex-minister, who comes from northern Malawi, says Muluzi told him Malawians were not prepared to accept a leader who comes from a minority ethnic group.
Banda accused the head of state of ”ethnic intolerance”.
”It is a worrying deterioration of democratic practices,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament, Sam Mpasu said on Saturday that he had turned down the job of commerce and industry minister in a new 46-member cabinet that Muluzi appointed two weeks ago.
The parliamentary official, who was out of the country at the time of his appointment, said he was not consulted by Muluzi before being given the job.
”I am not accepting the position,” said Mpasu.
He said as an elected official he could only be relieved of his present duties by the country’s lawmakers. Under Malawian law, the Speaker of Parliament cannot be a minister at the same time.
”I don’t want to set a bad precedent on the separation of powers,” he said, adding that he had written a formal letter of rejection to Muluzi. – Sapa-AFP