UDF Governors back expelled Vice President Iqbar Omar

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Iqbar Omar

Controversy still lingers over the expulsion of top United Democratic Front (UDF) officials as Central Region Governors who converged at the Malawi opposition party’s  regional office in Lilongwe say UDF president Atupele Muluzi has no legal powers to fire his vice.

The governors say Atupele has no mandate to fire Omar and the UDF president is flouting party procedures since the party’s constitution gives room for the accused to be heard and warned for three times.

Iqbar Omar
Omar: Has received backing.

According to the Central Region Governors, the constitution further says that after warning the accused for three times, the disciplinary committee is supposed to report the case to National Executive Committee (NEC) for further action and this was not the case during the expulsion of Omar.

UDF fired Omar together with two other officials, Dinocious Magombo and Zaitana Yusuf from the party accusing them of running parallel structures.

But speaking at the UDF meeting in Lilongwe, UDF Governors led by their regional governor, Magombo, said it is not true that Omar was running parallel structures.

The governors, while looking very charged throughout the meeting, downplayed assertions that Omar handpicked Magombo and fired Martins Matabwa.

They further accused Atupele of being the one running parallel structures by the virtue of entering an alliance with DPP.

“Atupele never consulted us on the working alliance, we just heard on the radio that UDF and DPP are in alliance,” said one of the governors.