Hakainde Hichilema (HH) endorsed by Mutharika in Zambia’s by-elections LILONGWE (Malawian Watchdog)—Malawi’s President Prof. Peter Mutharika has thrown a shuttle diplomacy in Zambia’s imminent elections by endorsing a candidate ‘of his choice’, Malawian Watchdog can reveal. Mutharika is secretly supporting UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema, popularly known in Zambia as HH, saying he believes he can comfortably work hand in hand with him than any candidate from the ruling Patriotic Front (PF). The Malawi leader unloaded his affinity to HH during a secret meeting with the latter’s delegation which was recently in the country. State House Malawian Watchdog informants have leaked that during those secret talks, Mutharika tipped the delegates on how to defeat a ruling party during elections, a feat he, himself, scored when he defeated the then incumbent Joyce Banda in the Malawi’s May 2014 elections. HH is racing it out from an opposition bench with Edgar Lungu on the other hand, who is likely to emerge the torchbearer of the ruling PF when it goes to convention. Records are registering themselves that, since becoming Head of State for Malawi in May 2014, Mutharika is poking his nose into neighboring countries’ elections. Mozambique for example, had general elections recently where the Malawi leader picked and briefed his favorite candidate, Filipe Nyusi, who has since won the race. Filipe Nyusi meeting President Mutharika at State Lodge in Mzuuzu Filipe Nyusi meeting President Mutharika at State Lodge in Mzuzu Nyusi secretly met President Mutharika on August 22 at Mzuzu State Lodge in Mzuzu City where, mainly, as our State House source confides, he tapped success tactics as he was entering the electoral challenge with the now outdone RENAMO’s Afonso Dhlakama. Tipped of the workable tactics, UNPD’s HH quickly sent his delegates to meet Mutharika where they met at Kamuzu Palace in Malawi’s capital – Lilongwe. Malawian Watchdog has further learnt that Mutharika was at pains to choose his favorite Candidate between HH and Rupiah Banda, but he finally settled for Hichilema. “In the first place, he wanted to pick his late brothers friend Rupiah Banda but his intelligence found out that Banda has no chance to win. He then decided to pick HH,” said our source. According to our informant, the Malawi leader further promised to fund HH’s campaign to ensure its robustness and energy, which will, according to Mutharika’s remarks, ‘send the ruling PF into oblivion’. The informant further told Malawian Watchdog that Mutharika wants to reward some existing scores with the PF whose founder, the late Michael Sata, was a sworn enemy to his late big brother Bingu wa Mutharika. The young Mutharika claims that the late Sata funded Atupele Muluzi during the Malawi’s hotly contested tripartite polls on May 20, a gesture that was locally reported as a kickback to his father Bakili Muluzi who allegedly threw crossing strings to the late Sata. Our source says that the younger Mutharika somehow accused the late Sata of being responsible for the sudden death of his late brother, who died of Cardiac Arrest in April 2012, following an intense pressure from the opposition political players and the general public. Atupele Muluzi, who was positioning himself to take over government in 2014, crisscrossed and thundered the country, a development that allegedly sent shivers down the late Mutharika’s spine. As the election fever was waving in, Bingu attempted to diffuse media convenience for the opposition parties. Among other tactics, his then reigning government shuttered the emergence of private Television broadcasting stations. By that time, the Muluzi’s UDF wanted to institute a proposed Joy TV for his campaign convenience. It is on record that following this impingement, Zambia’s Michael Sata offered that Joy TV could be given license to be broadcasting from Chipata in Zambia. The developments added salt to the injury such that pressure tide on Bingu intensified, forcing a heart attack to grind him down for Ndata. a “This is why the young Mutharika did not even attend 50th celebrations as well as Sata’s funeral ceremony this year,” concluded our source.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 13:59:43 +0000