Malawi’s ruling party said on Monday it has decided against expelling President Bingu wa Mutharika from its ranks despite a bitter power struggle with his predecessor.
Following a day-long meeting on Sunday held at former president Bakili Muluzi’s Blantyre home, the governing United Democratic Front (UDF) said it is ready to continue talks with Mutharika to try to bury the hatchet.
”No resolution was made to remove him from the party. He is still a party member,” said UDF party spokesperson Salule Masangwi.
”The wrangles are still there and we want to continue with the dialogue with him until we say enough is enough,” Masangwi said.
Mutharika, a 70-year-old economist, took over the presidency in May last year from Muluzi, who continues to wield power as the UDF’s chairperson while the president has no position within the party leadership.
Earlier this month, Mutharika accused senior party officials, led by Muluzi, of hatching a plot to assassinate him but the former president denied the accusations.
Mutharika accused Muluzi of being ”the main player in the rift because of his appetite for power”.
”Since he failed to extend his stay in office, Muluzi has tried to rule this country by remote control, but I will not allow him to do so,” Mutharika said in January.
At issue is Mutharika’s anti-corruption drive that has led to the arrests of several of Muluzi’s former aides, including former finance minister Friday Jumbe, charged with the theft of more than $4-million, and Humphrey Mvula, a close confidant to Muluzi, who faces 10 counts of graft charges.
”The meeting is intended to fire Mutharika for being ungrateful to a party that sponsored him to become president,” UDF secretary general Kennedy Makwangwala said late on Sunday.
Muluzi agreed to step down as head of state after his bid to amend the Constitution to allow him to stand for a third term in office was rejected by Parliament.
The UDF has been split into two camps: those who support Mutharika, mainly ministers, and loyalists of the former president.
Minister of Home Affairs Uladi Mussa stormed out of the meeting on Sunday when he, along with two other Mutharika loyalists, lost their posts as regional party chairpersons.
The UDF leadership set up a five-member team to hold talks with Mutharika, and the president’s Chief of Staff, Ken Ng’oma, said the president might open negotiations with the team later in the week.
The falling out between the two men marked a turnaround from the heydays of early 2004 when Muluzi campaigned energetically on behalf of Mutharika, saying he was the ”economic engineer” needed to lift Malawi out of poverty.
Muluzi (61) came to power in Malawi’s first multiparty polls in 1994, which ended three decades of dictatorial rule by Malawi’s founder-president Kamuzu Banda.
Malawi is one of the world’s poorest countries, ranking 163rd out of 173 by the United Nations Development Programme. — Sapa-AFP