John Zenus Ungapake Tembo speaks on his ‘Leader of Opposition’ loss

Main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president, John Zenus Ungapake Tembo, has blamed the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for his loss in the Leader of Opposition in Parliament tussle.
Tembo has been downed by a little-known political new-comer, 36-year-old Abel Kayembe. Kayembe is MCP Member of Parliament for Dowa West.
This is Tembo’s first reaction to his loss for the position of leader of opposition. Kayembe becomes Malawi’s third leader of opposition after Gwanda Chakuamba and Tembo himself.
The leader of opposition tag has, since the dawn of multiparty democracy in 1994, revolved around MCP leadership.
Tembo said what DPP is doing in Malawi is aimed at confusing and eliminating the opposition, whose first results were his fall as leader of opposition in Parliament.
“Tembo, who has been in politics for over 40 years, said there was no country in the 53-member strong Commonwealth bloc that uses MPs from both the opposition and government backbenchers to vote for leader of opposition.
“They just want to confuse the opposition and eliminate it,” said Tembo.
Kayembe won the leader of opposition post through a secret ballot the house conducted following change of standing orders which Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee drafted following a petition by late MP Ishmael Chafukira.
Chafukira was the defacto leader of an MCP pressure group advocating for leadership change.
“The DPP is abusing its majority in Parliament and this is bad for our democracy,” said Tembo.
The position of leader of opposition attracts an K800, 000 pay check every month, apart from an official Toyota VX government vehicle. It also attracts pay and remuneration as that of a full cabinet minister.
But the ruling DPP has disputed Tembo’s claims.
“They (opposition) are the ones that came up with names, including that of Tembo himself, Kayembe and Alfred Mwechumu of the United Democratic Front (UDF),” said government chief whip in Parliament Khumbo Kachali.
Kachali also serves as DPP’s second vice president, after vice president Joyce Banda and state president Bingu wa Mutharika.
Following the dramatic fall in the House, Tembo- who was powerful and called the shots in the last opposition-dominated Parliament (2004-May 2009)- has been relegated to the back benches as the MCP taskforce for leadership change, the party’s official rebel group, has taken over parliamentary affairs.
It is, however, not known for how long would the veteran politician, who was down in 1994 after the MCP lost power to Bakili Muluzi’s UDF. He was, however, up and running in the 1999 and 2004 elections as he became party presidential candidate. He lost both bids to the State House.
“This is too bad for our democracy; it is not what Malawians voted for in 1994, This is chaos,” said Tembo, for once appearing more angry.
Over the years, he might have let bags of anger bundle up inside him. It is only now that the pain could come to the fall now that the veteran politician has started speaking in negatives about political governance in the Southern African Development Community member-state.