Having served as Vice President during Professor Bingu Wa Mutharika’s second term in office, Dr. Joyce Banda of the People’s Party (PP) is no stranger to Malawi’s political landscape.
Born in 1950, she subsequently became Malawi’s First Female President following the death of Bingu Wa Mutharika in 2012.
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With 21 candidates lined up for the September 16 General elections, she is the first candidate to present her nomination papers and makes history again as Malawi’s only female aspirant in the runner up to the polls.
Her running mate Khumbo Kachali is also not a novice as he once served as her Vice after Bingu’s death in 2012-2014.
‘I’m very happy because this country when I and Joyce Banda took over power, Malawi was the way it is now. So for now, let us focus on moving the people away from prevailing challenges to prosperity.
“In 2012 we had a fuel crisis, there were forex shortages but it only took one week and after that, things returned to normalcy. Leave it to us 16 September just give us the mandate to run this country”
He dismissed reports linking him to Nothern Alliance Block
JB as she is fondly known by her supporters noted that in the recent past including yesterday, there are signs that people want to incite violence and call on duty bearers to ensure peace during this period.
“We don’t engage in violence; we’re hoping that other parties will also abide by what the Chairman of MEC said and it is also my belief that MEC will be in charge and make sure that people are following the code of conduct, but for us, Freedom Party, Mafunde any other party that we work with; we must align and also realize that we also believe in peace. There is no time for violence. We want a peaceful election process. PP, Freedom Party and Mafunde zazikwanje zokhapana sitipanga nawo” {PP, Freedom Party and Mafunde we don’t believe in assaulting opponents with panga knives}
The PP President spoke on the urgent need for action to move away from the current mess and achieving stability.
She described their manifesto as vast with seven bullets that people can look at alongside a mid-term and long-term manifesto noting there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to convince Malawians to vote for them.
The former President acknowledged that a few months ago, they have been in talks with different partners and never stopped the negotiations hence the partnership is nothing new as the two of them are on familiar ground.
Her immediate initiative will be cash for work programme to ensure people have buying power to cushion inflation and buy food stressing on need to move people out of poverty.
In her remarks, MEC Chairperson Annabel Mtalimanja appealed to supporters and candidates to focus on telling the electorate of their manifesto in line with the country’s development agenda MW2063.
She called for a unified Malawi and challenged politicians to use their platforms to promote peaceful coexistence.
Mtalimanja reminded stakeholders that being a competition, there can only be one winner hence urged candidates to prepare supporters to accept the outcome of the polls.
She further warned that those in breach of the code of conduct such as disruption of campaign materials or rallies will be liable to pay a penalty of K5 million
According to the Commission, the nomination papers will then be scrutinized by a Committee and then a list of approved candidates will be released to the public by 8th August
Over 7.2 million have registered as voters for the upcoming election.
