In what comes across as a sharp shock to both DPP and distant onlookers, a multi billionaire FDH Bank owner, Thom Mpinganjira, has taken a swipe at Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials and members as a political club thieves.
Mpinganjira, who was is out of prison on bail pending appeal made the remarks during a televised interview monitored by Shire Times.
“Akufuna andinyengelere. Akuti akamanenanena choncho ine ndikopeke ndinene kuti ndikufunidwa. Mbala zokhazokha kungofuna kudyelana ndalama”, Mpinganjira said commenting against rumors that his name has been under discussions by some DPP officials as suitable for the party’s candidature in 2025 presidential race.
His utterance emerged with a coat of surprise considering that in relation to 2020 presidential elections, Mpinganjira took a devastating bullet for DPP.
When the Constitutional Court was sitting to adjudicate a matter that related to the disputing of the 2019 presidential results, Mpinganjira, as the Constitutinal Court eventually confirmed, attempted to bribe the Constitutional Court judges so they could corruptly decide the case in favour of the DPP.
The High Court convicted him of the charges and was sentenced to serve 9 years in prison. His lawyers appealed for his release pending bail application and succeeded in that appeal. Supreme Court Judge Frank Kapanda granted the appeal in February last year (2022) and Mpinganjira is yet to make the appeal.
The DPP has been suggesting one name after another in search of a competitive candidate who may face President Lazarus Chakwera of the ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP) at the polls and the convict’s name has been flying around.
The DPP has ruled out the aspiring Kondwani Nankhumwa as uneducated and unfit for the mentally-demanding office of Presidente, a development that has left the party with less popular aspiring candidates with feeble political grounding thereby forcing the tested-and-failed Peter Mutharika to stand in.
