Former cabinet minister in the United Democratic Front (UDF) regime Salim Bagus on Saturday surprised a crowd which patronised his rally at Nchalo Trading Center when he asked for forgiveness for the mistakes he committed between 2009 and 2014.
Bagus, however, did not mention the mistakes he committed, saying people learn from mistakes. He also promised to become a better leader once re-elected as an MP in next month’s elections.
But speaking in an interview a local resident for the area, Agnes Nyambalo of Group Village head man Sekeni in traditional authority (T/A) Lundu said Bagus relocated to Lilongwe immediately after he was voted into office, neglecting the constituency and she believes that that was one of the mistakes the former parliamentarian committed.
At the Nchalo rally, Bagus also laboured to convince the seemingly amazed crowd to vote for him as an independent MP while he is still a member of the ruling DPP, the party which already has another candidate in the same constituency, Samuel Office.
At the rally Bagus distributed DPP branded clothes and bicycles urging the crowd to vote for Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika to continue as the president.
The development left people wondering as to whether DPP has two parliamentary candidates for the area.
However, in an interview Bagus said he did not see anything wrong to support the ruling party’s president even though he is contesting as an independent MP for the area.
Efforts to speak to the party’s spokesperson Nicholas Dausi on whether the development shall not confuse its supporters proved futile as he could not pick his phone when called for an interview.
However, DPP’s Vice President for the Southern Region Kondwani Nankhumwa earlier this month told followers of the party when he addressed a rally at Nchalo trading center that the party only recognises Samuel Office as its parliamentary candidate for the area.
Bagus was earmarked to be the Parliamentary candidate for the opposition Malawi Congress Party in the same constituency before he moved to the ruling DPP where he failed to contest in the DPP’s primary elections.
