A cocktail of events, some of which include DPP’s internal fighting and President Chakwera’s last night address to the nation, has forced Mutharika to cancel a purported press briefing that he was expected to make tomorrow.
Announcements made by the party’s unofficial parallel spokesperson, Shadreck Namalomba, Mutharika was expected to conduct the press briefing tomorrow to express his views about the recent devaluation of the Kwacha.
However, resisting Mutharika’s talk bid was the DPP’s internal faction which threatened to obtain injunction aimed at stopping Mutharika from exercising the functions of DPP, further stating that if he has to make any address, he has to do it in his personal capacity and not as DPP leader.
Shire Times understands that the honey’s nest has been stirred by Mutharika’s unwillingness to convene an internal meeting with the party’s Secretary General to chart the way forward on the party’s elective convention which is expected to occur next month.
The party’s Deputy Director of Political Affairs, Fredrick Malata has said “it is incoherent that the party’s leader should prioritize convening a meeting with journalists while he is dodging a crucial meeting with the party’s Secretary General to prepare for our convention”.
DPP’s internal sources have indicated to Shire Times that Mutharika is not willing to take the party to a convention next month fearing a looming defeat from his competitor, Kondwani Nankhumwa, who has maintained his survival in the DPP trough a litany of victorious court battles.
According the the sources, the last stroke that paralyzed Mutharika’s intention to hold a press briefing on the devaluation is the State President’s national address that was done yesterday.
The State President, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, addressed the nation on the devaluation, explaining his Government’s intervention aimed at cushioning the effects of the devaluation as well as highlighting on funding in-flows that have been unlocked through the re-alignment of the Kwacha.
