Blantyre, Malawi - Malawi Vice President Joyce Banda's yet-to-be registered Peoples Party (PP) has dragged the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties to court for rejecting to register it, the party's legal supremo has confirmed. 'Yes, we want the courts to review the decision of the Registrar of Political Parties to reject our registration,' Paul Maulidi, PP Director of Legal Affairs, said. The Registrar of Political Parties, Geoffrey Nkhata, refused to disclose reasons why his office rejected PP's registration but the party's spokesman Steven Mwenye said his party was spurned because other parties also bear the acronym 'PP'.

'We believe this is not the real reason because there are other parties with similar acronyms,' he said. 'We believe there are some powerful people behind this. They are fearing us.'

Mwenye said PP will fight to be registered under its preferred name and acronym.

When Banda unveiled her new party, the Peoples Progressive Movement (PPM) of transporter Mark Katsonga-Phiri and Uladi Mussa's Maravi Peoples Party (MPP) protested that PP resembles their parties and supporters and voters will be confused. Mussa went further to lodge an official complaint with the Registrar of Political Parties.

Nkhata, the Registrar of Political Parties, refused to be dragged into disclosing reasons why PP has been rejected, referring PANA to PP's Mwenye, the PP spokesman, who said the new party had shaken the foundation of other parties and powerful people in government were using underhand tactics to frustrate it.

Mzuzu University political scientist Noel Mbowera agreed with Mwenye that the Registrar of Political Parties' reasons were not sufficient enough to block registration of the new party.

'If PP challenges this in court they'll definitely win,' he said.

Banda, Malawi's first female vice-president, founded PP after being expelled from President Bingu wa Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for allegedly positioning herself for the 2014 polls.

Some sections of the DPP want Mutharika's younger brother, Education Minister Prof. Peter Arthur Mutharika, to succeed him.

The 71-year-old Washington University constitutional law professor, who is currently Education Minister, hasn't said whether he wants to succeed his 77-year-old brother or not.

Pana 15/05/2011