Reports from Blantyre Rural East indicate that veteran politician and Minister of Lands, Henry Duncan Phoya, has lost in the Peoples’ Party (PP) primaries in the constituency.

Phoya who has been an MP for the constituency from the time he was with the UDF, moved to the DPP before dumping the party to be an independent and then joining MCP before he later ditched it to be in the Orange camp, has been defeated by Mr. Steve Mijiga.

However, earlier results had projected a win for Phoya but it was later discovered that Phoya had had to rig the results in favour.

“There were ballot papers for Mr. Phoya which were later discovered to have been fake ones, meaning Mr. Phoya had brought with him papers that had already been cast in his favour,” said a source from within the party ranks who opted for anonymity.

Meanwhile, the results of the elections have been withheld over the same controversy but the truth is that Hon. Phoya has tumbled in the PP primaries.

Recently, there have been speculations that Phoya was planning to ditch the Peoples’ Party and return to Malawi Congress Party (MCP).