Jones Yamikani Chadza plans to go independent
* Aspirants accuse MCP hierarchy of imposing Francis Belekanyama
* Son to the constituency’s late legislator and Minister Lingson Belekanyama
* Contestant Jones Yamikani Chadza says he will go independent
* He says the primary reason election’s results do not reflect the will of the people.
* There were 12 contestants for the country’s oldest party ticket
By Joshua Mphanda, MEC Stringer
Just as it happened prior to the 2019 tripartite elections, the thorny controversy of irregularities during Malawi Congress Party’s primary elections has resurfaced in Lilongwe Msinja South constituency.
Francis Belekanyama
Eight losing candidates in the MCP primary election in which Francis Belekanyama was declared the winner, have disputed the results and vowed to go independent.
The development came to light on Tuesday when the aspirants accused the ruling party hierarchy of electioneering and imposing Francis, whose late father Lingson Belekanyama served as lawmaker for the area for 17 years.
Lingson Belekanyama, the towering figure in MCP politics, died on January 12 whilst serving as Minister of Local Government.
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Speaking in an interview, Jones Yamikani Chadza — who came second in the primary election which had 12 people contesting for the country’s oldest party ticket — said he is going independent as the results do not reflect the will of the people.
“I have decided to go independent and my bid has the support of other candidates who are not satisfied with the results because those results are the will of what some senior MCP members wanted at the Regional office and currently the party is split here,” claims Chadza.
Chadza also revealed that he will start campaigning in the constituency on Thursday and they have already created a development committee to assist and look at the needs of the people in the area.
Late Lingson Belekanyama
The losing candidates are currently split in two groups and Chadza’s candidature has been endorsed by Fanizo Kabwazi, Hasten Mlinde, Sam Mbendera and Lefinosi Chigamula while the other independent candidate is a lone wolf Lameck Kondesi.
In his remarks, Kondesi expressed ‘dissatisfaction’ with the results and said he had decided to go independent at the behest of his supporters.
Of the eight candidates out of twelve we interviewed, four endorsed Yamikani Jones Chadza while two candidates — Herman Yokonia Mvula and Henrick Chidzumeni Kumkeyani — said they will decide later who to endorse but ruled out standing as independents.
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Meanwhile, MCP national campaign director, Moses Kumkuyu has since downplayed the other candidates, saying; “Such things are common in democracy but as MCP we are not fazed by this.
“I am very confident that come 30 March our candidate will carry the day.”
In an earlier interview, the 36-year-old Belekanyama vowed to continue with his father’s legacy “because that is what he would have wanted me to do as he used to assign me duties here”.
He had said that among his major plans are to establish a bursary scheme for needy students, construct a tarmac road and renovate the clinics in the constituency.
It is expected that MCP will lock horns with a horde of independent candidates and opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has Mustafa Macdonald as the only known individual to have shown interest to be its candidate as of now.
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