Deputy secretary general for the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Catherine Gotani Hara has called upon women in Karonga Central Constituency to vote wisely during the forthcoming by-election billed for November 10 if poverty levels are to be narrowed in the area, saying it is women who feel the pinch when poverty strikes the hardest in the community.
Hara who led the horde of MCP senior officials who invaded the Constituency to canvass votes for the party’s candidate Leonard Mwalwanda, made the call on Saturday at Mwenilondo primary school ground during a campaign rally.
“When poverty hits, it is women who struggle to fend for children. However, I have known Karonga women as hard working and business minded women who defy all male chauvinism to run small scale business to fend for their families.
“Government will complement those efforts by providing loans to boost your businesses to enable you to educate your children, buy cheap fertilizer and have enough food in your homes. The solution is for you to vote for the MCP candidate Leonard Mwalwanda who will take your developmental needs to Parliament,” she said.
On his part, the regional director of youth for North-North Robert Katawa implored the youth to refrain from indulging in political violence but instead form groups that will be drilled in business management skills in readiness for loans that government intends to disburse once all formalities are concluded to empower the youth economically.
The Constituency’s former candidate in the 2019 Tripartite Polls Bahart Kishombe who contested on DPP ticket and switched to Freedom Party before dumping it for AFORD also spoke highly of Mwalwanda’s candidature.
The Constituency hosted seven Members of Parliament from the Central and Northern regions and four senior party officials, a move deputy regional organizing secretary for the North Aram Beza justified, saying it is a strategy the party devised to reclaim the seat.
In an interview, a renowned political commentator Sharif Kayisi said the high presence of a highly delegated team of senior party officials to drum up support for the MCP candidate is a clear sign that there is a lot at stake.
“The current trending of politics on the land is all about supremacy amongst Tonse Alliance government partners whose partnership is principally on paper but wide open on the ground for parties to struggle to see who is more popular than the other. So, the competition is stiff. That is why you will see big fish flocking to the Constituency to garner support for their candidate which is the first of its kind in the history of politics in Malawi,” Kayisi said.
In total, on Saturday a marathon of six rallies were conducted at Mlare, Lughali, Lupembe, Gumi, Mwenilondo and Kasimba.
The four senior party officials included the deputy secretary general Catherine Gotani Hara, regional chairperson Kezzie Msukwa, director of youth Richard Chimwendo Banda and Ken Kandodo.
