Government has accused Leader of Opposition and Malawi Congress Party president (MCP) Lazarus Chakwera of dragging donors into party politics due to his ignorance on the roles of diplomatic missions.
Minister of Information Nicholas Dausi who is also government spokesperson made the remarks in reaction to a letter Chakwera wrote donors claiming that government is sending death threats to an MCP candidate for Nsanje Lalanje constituency.
In the letter which he copied to US embassy, Germany, European Union, British High Commission and the United Nations, Chakwera claimed that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government is hunting the MCP candidate Lawrence Sitolo and offering him bribes to withdraw his candidacy in the October 17 by-elections.
But government through Dausi has said Chakwera wants donors to be involved in party politics and is attempting to turn the international community against government.
He said Chakwera has shown his ignorance on the role of diplomatic institutions by telling them about an issue that concerns a mere candidate in a by-election.
“Chakwera is just trying to buy sympathy and by going to the donor community, Chakwera is expressing his ignorance on diplomatic institutions. When you are desperate into getting into government, this is the result; you do not go through the right channels,” he said.
Dausi said the right authorities to deal with issues Chakwera presented in the letter are Malawi Police Service, Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
The minister noted that by failing to present his grievances to MEC and other constitutional bodies, Chakwera has confirmed suspicions that the whole issue is about seeking public sympathy.
He said: “The fact that MCP has avoided all these relevant institutions attests to our position that the allegations they are making are a sympathy-seeking stunt, having already known they will lose as expected.”
