The ruling People’s Party (PP) through its General Secretary has disclosed that it is still consulting on whether to participate on Presidential debates or not scheduled for Blantyre and Lilongwe.

Paul Maulidi made the revelation on Monday in an interview.

“People should know that we are in a middle of a presidential campaign and as PP we have our own programme. We never planned for the debates so we will have to consult when they have approached us because we are yet to receive any letter of invitation.

“Secondly, the president is not just a presidential candidate but a state president so she has a busy schedule, we will have to see if that will permit her to participate in the debate or not,” said Maulidi.

When approached for comment  Malawi Institute of the Southern Africa (MISA), Chairperson Antony Kasunda on the claims that the party has not been served with the invitation, he said:

“It’s not true that we have not sent an invitation. The taskforce sent an invitation to PP secretariat as we did with all the parties, asking for an audience to explain the details of the planned debates. As we speak 99 percent of the parties have positively responded to the request and we are still waiting for PP to grant us an audience.”

Of late PP pulled out of the Presidential running mate debate saying the organizers were favouring the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidate.

The Presidential Candidate debate has been organized by (MISA) Malawi chapter in collaboration with Malawi Electoral Commission and there three in number, two in Lilongwe at Bingu International Conference Centre  (BICC)and one in Blantyre.