Lower Shire political giant Abida Mia has put her hat into the ring to become the next second vice president for the ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Mrs Mia has confirmed to the Timveni Online team.
Abida, wife of the departed MCP’s first vice president, Mohammed Sidik Mia, has been operating from the background since the time of UDF. She was instrumental in UDF, DPP, and Peoples Party conventions, renowned for feeding convention delegates.
The August 2024 convention will be the last before the 2025 elections, and winners who stay in office for five years are likely to succeed President Lazarus Chakwera in 2025 or 2030, depending on the election’s outcome.
She also supported the same for the MCP conventions and, along with her husband, sold properties to finance President Chakwera’s campaigns in 2014 and 2018. They were also said to have incurred huge debts.
However, by seeking the second vice presidency, Mrs Mia is likely to win as she has avoided the crowded first vice president post, which has become a political minefield with attacks, revelations, and threats being unveiled by followers of various candidates.
The MCP will hold its convention on August 4th, becoming the first major party to do so. The majority of old-timers are projected to lose their seats, while the vacant first vice president position has attracted many contestants hoping to succeed President Chakwera when he retires.
Chakwera will be gunning for his final term of office in 2025. Should he make it, the MCP’s first vice president post has MCP Treasurer General Albert Mbawala, Speaker Catherine Gotani NyaHara, Homeland Security Minister Ken Zikhale Ng’oma, Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu, Engineer Vitumbiko Mumba and veteran politician Brown James Mpinjanjira as some of the key contestants.
The party constitution says the first deputy President shall be the running mate in an election.
