Untold miseries and misfortunes continue to soil the former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with a latest episode being a nasty and stinking verbal war that has ensued between National Organising Secretary Chimwemwe Chipungu and DPP cadet Isaac Jomo Osman who is Bangwe Mthandizi Ward councilor and is fondly named Ntopwa 1.
The latest incident comes on the heels of a deepening leadership wrangle that has sunk the party into the abyss of a catastrophic cyclone that is relentlessly pummeling the opposition party.
According to leaked recorded voice notes and phone conversations, Jomo is accusing Chipungu of misinforming and telling the party leader Peter Mutharika lies about other party members.
In several conversations, the acrimonious Jomo is heard using unpublishable F*** words, while on one hand, Chipungu is also angrily showering all sorts of vulgar and obscene language on Jomo.
As they exchange the banter, in one conversation, Chipungu brands Jomo as “poverty-stricken” and apparently, this has not gone down well with Jomo as he hits back at the former Director of Safe Motherhood Initiative, telling him that he does not in any way fear him.
Jomo also tells Chipungu that he has never at any point confronted Chipungu for any kind of assistance or help in his life.
“I am a kid from the street, I can’t fear you. You are a very small boy in town. If you rely on Juju (magical charms), that is your problem and I cannot be shaken,” says the angry Jomo.
In another leaked phone tête-à-tête, Chipungu furiously brands informs Jomo that he is travelling to Blantyre and is ready for a physical fight against Jomo.
“Ndiposo, choti udziwe iwe Chipungu siiwe DPP.Mizimu ya anthu ambiri ikukudandaula kwambiri.Anthu akhala akudandaula kunenena kuti a Chisale ndiamene amasokoneza a bwana.Lero anachoka Chisale, iwe ndiye ukufuna ukhale Chisale part two.Ndiposo ndisanayambe ndaonapo mbalame ngati weyo iayi.[Mina] Jomo, I am not afraid of you.Ndiposo, DPP ngati ikuphwasuka, ndichifukwa cha agalu a miseche ngati inu.Ntchito kumangokhalira miseche
“[You are not DPP. Many DPP followers are angry with you. In the past, people were pointing fingers at Norman Chisale (former bodyguard for Peter Mutharika) and you want to emerge another Chisale. I have never seen a useless person like you. If DPP popularity is fading away, it is because of people like you who like back-biting and talking ill of others],” Jomo tells Chipungu.
Meanwhile, DPP legislator Noel Lipipa has commented on the verbal war between two, stating that he is vindicated.
Lipipa, again speaking in a recorded voice note, says he has been all along condemned the behavior of other party members who are misleading Mutharika.
“I have been saying this for so long, we are in danger. We can’t sit down and watch things going in a wrong direction. There are so many injustices happening within the party,” he says.
In the same voice note, Lipipa also warns against those who are antagonising the party’s presidential hopeful Kondwani Nankhumwa to stop immediately, warning that they won’t succeed.
Nankhumwa is currently campaigning for the party’s presidency against former Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Governor Dalitso Kabambe and DPP Treasurer Joseph Mwanamvekha
Lipipa also says if the founder of the party, Bingu wa Mutharika, was still alive, he wouldn’t allow such divisions to emerge in the party. Bingu died of cardiac attack in April 2012.
Using an analogy, Lipipa likens DPP to a leaking house and that they must work hard to seal all leakages so that rainwater must not infiltrate the house.
In February last year, a presser by DPP in Lilongwe turned ugly after two camps in the leadership race fought each other. During the incident, former DPP spokesperson Brown Mpinganjira was beaten by unknown thugs, believed to have been sponsored by Nankhumwa.