The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) says presidents of opposition parties cannot meet Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Vice President for the South Kondwani Nankhumwa because he is not their positional counterpart.
The party said this in a statement on Tuesday in reaction to Nankhumwa’s offer to meet MCP president Lazarus Chakwera and UTM leader Saulos Chilima to resolve the political disputes that have emerged following the May 21 disputed elections.
In its statement, MCP said the offer is not in good faith since it came from Nankhumwa who cannot meet presidents of other political parties as they are not his positional counterparts.
The MCP cast doubt over the offer for dialogue saying DPP leaders have been claiming that the election case in which Chakwera and Chilima are challenging results of the May 21 polls is ill-advised as the elections were not rigged.
“The duplicitous act of having one DPP official like Hon. Nankhumwa calling for contact and dialogue on one platform while at the same time other DPP officials, including the DPP President, continue using other platforms to mock and malign the grievances of Malawian voters embodied in Dr. Chakwera’s petition to the Constitutional Court, destroys any hope that this so called olive branch is not in fact a Trojan Horse.
“It is therefore curious, if not altogether insulting, that the same DPP that persists in its efforts to supplant our collective quest for peace and justice with its right hand would have the gall and temerity to offer us peace without justice with its left hand,” reads part of the statement.
The MCP spokesperson then stated that the party will only answer those calls for contact and dialogue whose goal is to accomplish a clear aspiration of Malawians which the statement says is a complete overhaul of all government institutions that the DPP has contaminated, beginning with Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).
MCP and UTM leader have been endorsing demonstrations calling for the resignation of MEC chairperson Jane Ansah.
The demonstrations turned ugly earlier this month when protesters looted shops and set buildings on fire.
