Prof Mutharika is standing on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP) ticket while his opponent, hot contender Masautso White is
contesting as an independent.
Police in Thyolo and White have both confirmed the incident which occurred in the wee hours of Thursday.
White said unknown assailants pounced on his recently bought vehicle
around 1.00am on Thursday and set it ablaze just hours after his
opponent issued a warning during a rally he conducted that the car
would disappear if he does not change its colour. Â
The bone of contention was the blue colour of the vehicle which is
reportedly to have annoyed the learned Mutharika who wanted it changed.
After presenting his nomination papers to the District Commissioner
for Thyolo, Professor Mutharika held a rally at the community ground
where he gave me a four-day ultimatum. He threatened that if I don't
change the colour my car will disappear.
Just hours after his threat unknown thugs came and burnt it. Actually
two petrol bombs were discovered underneath the burnt body which were
taken by the police, he explained.
White, who bought the vehicle from Durban, South Africa with the same
blue colour when he was still a DPP supporter, suspects Professor
Mutharika has a hand in the blazing of his vehicle Toyota vehicle. He ditched the party after it indicated that Professor Mutharika was its candidate even before primary elections were held.
Since then White never changed his vehicle's colour, a development his
opponent disliked claiming it was confusing the electorates because
they were attending his meetings in multitude thinking he was still
DPP.
There was no comment from Professor Mutharika as his phone could not be
reached but DPP spokesperson Nicholas Dausi disassociated his party
from the incident.
That story is not substantiated….You know the DPP is a peaceful party
and there is no way our supporters can engage in such acts. It may not
be connected to DPP, actually if there is an individual or some people
who burnt his car let him report the matter to police and the law
enforcers will do their job, said Dausi.
While confirming that the office was handling the case, Thyolo police
refused to comment anything when contacted Thursday afternoon.