Some DPP gurus behind the party’s acting President Professor Peter Mutharika on Thursday tabled a motion during the party’s politburo meeting in Lilongwe to have Mutharika go unopposed as 2014 presidential candidate.
The Mutharika camp has been thrown into panic gear ever since Speaker of Parliament Henry Chimunthu Banda threw his hat in the ring to challenge Professor Mutharika.
A source who attended the National Governing Council said the Mutharika camp proposed that the Professor be endorsed as presidential candidate unopposed.
“They said because the party had already told chiefs and other stakeholders that Mutharika would represent DPP there was need to endorse him. But most of the members shot down the proposal,” said the source adding;
“We told them that things have changed because that time we were in power and it was easier to impose a candidate but now we need to have a candidate who will win through a convention.”
The source said after a protracted battle the senior members gave up on their proposal to have Mutharika sail through unopposed.
However DPP Secretary General Allan Chiyembekeza said the proposal was not valid but that some people were just referring to previous resolutions.
All this is happening at a time when a local political analyst has labeled Professor Mutharika as desperate for power after he told a rally in Kasungu that no matter he will represent the party in 2014.
“These remarks show that all along, Professor Mutharika thought that he would have no competitor during the party’s convention, in light of the fact that the founder of DPP was his late brother, Bingu wa Mutharika,” said Chancellor College based political analyst Dr. Mustafa Hussein.
Meanwhile, the party has resolved that the convention be held at COMESA hall in Blantyre after failing to secure a place in Lilongwe.
The aspiring Presidents will pay a nomination fee of K500, 000 while those eying the vice presidency will pay half of the amount.
The NGC further agreed that those going for the position of Secretary General should pay K200,000 while Treasurer General will pay K150,00 and all aspiring for Directors in different categories will pay K100,000 while their deputies will pay K50,000.
