LILONGWE—Youthful Member of Parliament for Lilongwe East Constituency, Ezekiel Ching’oma, has expressed interest to vie for the position of Publicity Secretary for the Party in the forthcoming convention expected to take place in Mzuzu City next month.
“I can confirm, I will go for it,” said a calm and collected Ching’oma.
Pressed on what he intends to achieve for the party if the convention entrusts him with the Publicity Secretary position for the party, Ching’oma said he wants to position MCP as a party truly waiting to form government in 2019.
“The rebranding of the party as championed by our President Dr. Chakwera entails that we must preserve the gains so made and not put the party into disrepute.
“The Publicity Secretary position is therefore strategic to achieve this and I assure you that I am the right person for this job,” said Ching’oma.
Perhaps to show that Ching’oma is indeed the right person for the job, the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) recently promoted him to serve as the Party’s Publicity Secretary, thus following the firing of ‘fired’ Spokesperson Jessie Kabwira.
In an interview with a Livingstonia University political commentator, he said Ching’oma represents the true definition of how a branded party looks like.
“He is youthful and this is strategic to attract more youths in the party than putting old people for such positions,” he said.
One of his fellow MCP lawmakers, who made his comment on condition of anonymity had all praises for Ching’oma.
“Ching’oma, is by qualification from University of Malawi, a trained media, PR and communication guru. He has also received substantial training in Law, again from University of Malawi.
“And since he started speaking for the party, we have already seen the benefits. He is logical when representing the party. He is measured when representing the party. These are some of the qualities any party would look for in a spokesperson than having someone who is just unnecessarily vocal and careless when speaking and at the same time, a flip flopper, someone who cannot clearly communicate a clear position for the party,” said the Lawmaker who was confident that Ching’oma’s announcement makes him a front runner for the position.
It has been observed that even MCP President, Dr Lazarus Chakwera, also recognizes the potential in Hon Ching’oma, as he has all along, been retained as the Shadow Information and Communication Minister for the party in Parliament.
Besides that, Ching’oma, now serving his second term as a lawmaker, is considered loyal to the party and is also considered to be well conversant with the party as an institution, meaning that he will need no time to learn on how the institution works in order to deliver.
So far, Ching’oma remains the only credible candidate who has expressed interest for this position. Others are new entrants Kondi Msungama and Moses Kunkuyu. In other positions such as the Secretary General Position for the party, Reverend Maurice Munthali has expressed interest to contest for this position and is likely going to battle it out with Hon Eisenhower Mkaka.
Meanwhile, it is still not clear if the party will hold the convention early next month as they have to wait for the court today to decide if it will lift an injunction blocking the holding of the convention.
The injunction was obtained by the ‘suspended’ Secretary General, Gustav Kaliwo and Vice President Richard Msowoya.
