State House Chief of Staff, Dr Bruce Munthali confirmed that the President and his fielding rivals did not meet on Wednesday.
UDF spokesman Robert Jameison said Muluzi left Lilongwe for Blantyre on Tuesday.And MCP publicist Ishmael Chafukila said Tembo was pre-occupied with other matters.
Mutharika and Muluzi, alongside Tembo's representative, first met on Friday in closed door discussions organized by former Mozambican president Joachim Chissano.
Observors said the talks will not yield anything because government side condition was to press AU to persuade Muluzi to withdraw his candidature.
Tembo told a public rally in his central region stronghold that somebody misled the AU on tension in the country.
They told me they want the way forward, I asked them: Which way forward? They told me in this country there are problems. And I asked them: Which problems? Tembo told Waliranji rally in Mchinji according to Daily Times quotes.
Chissano said AU had no mandate to ask any candidate to withdraw but were only in Malawi on a mission to promote preventive diplomacy to ensure Malawi holds free and fair elections.
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) executive director Undule Mwakasungula said the talks were vital.
As Malawians we really need to put in place some shock absorbers in order to defuse any potential trigger of violence as we approach elections. We cannot afford another Kenya scenario where a country that has been considered to be relatively peaceful amidst a very tense region degenerated into chaos and bloodshed soon after announcement of election results late last year, said Mwakasungula in a statement.
CHRR said they expect nothing less than a deal that will ensure that 2009 elections are violent free. Political analyst Pofela Nyekanyeka said on Wednesday on arrival from United Kingdom that the cause of the current political instability remains the resignation of President Mutharika from the UDF, the party that successfully sponsored him into office.
The persistence of the crisis shows that moral integrity is preferred by the larger society. The President owes the Presidency to the same UDF, its leadership and its supporters’ rank and file, he said.
The problems facing the UDF and President Mutharika have been discussed at various forums. Before he dumped the UDF on February 8, 2005, the UDF National Executive Committee (NEC) and the clergy were involved in shuttle diplomacy to resolve the misunderstanding but without success because at that time, President Mutharika had started forming parallel party structures at grassroots level.
The analyst said President Mutharika was receiving inaccurate intelligence reports that grossly contributed to poor relationship between him and the UDF. This was evidenced by trumped-up treason charges brought against UDF NEC member, Harry Thomson, Roy Comsy (now DPP) Alfred Mwechumu and lateJordan Kanyerere, UDF District Governor for Mangochi.
These officials were among those invited to a mediation meeting between President Mutharika and UDF Southern Region officials.
It has since then been very clear that the State President has been told false information and that some people close to the presidency have taken advantage of the impasse between the party and government to worsen matters, noted Nyekanyeka.
UDF secretary general Kennedy Makwangwala said the party made several efforts in order to mend and repair the relationship with Mutharika.
A committee led by the UDF Secretary General met the President in June 2004 to discuss concerns of the party and to draw a work plan.
A meeting was held at Sanjika Palace on August 8, 2004 to discuss matters of etiquette between UDF leaders and the President.
The UDF NEC met again in September in 2004 and made a resolution that required the President to indicate whether or not the President wanted to remain a member of the UDF. The President refused to attend the subsequent meeting.
In October, 2004 the President was invited to a NEC meeting but he refused again to attend.
A team of religious leaders volunteered to mediate and two meetings were held in Zomba in November 2004. Subsequently, the clergy and civil society leaders were also involved in discussions.
Mutharika and Muluzi met at Zomba State House in December 2004 but failed to resolve differences. They met again in Lilongwe to resolve differences in January, 2005.
Another mission was sent to meet the President in February, 2005. It included the Speaker of Parliament, the late Rodwell Munyenyembe, Mrs. Alice Sumani and late Mary Kaphwereza Banda.
Foreign leaders of neighbouring countries were involved in quiet diplomacy between May 2005 and December 2005 without success.
The former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Don McKinnon was personally involved and he later delegated his two deputies, who met the Mutharika team and the UDF team led by George Mtafu at Capital Hotel in Lilongwe in October, 2005.
A team of diplomats from Netherlands met with the UDF at Ryalls Hotel in Blantyre and the government side at New State House in Lilongwe.
Public Affairs Committee (PAC) officials met the UDF team at Msamba Parish in Bvumbwe and Muluzi’s BCA Residence.
A UDF team led by Muluzi and MCP team led by Tembo were invited to Pretoria, South Africa for a troika mediation process with Mutharika and his team.
British Baroness Linda Chalker retired Botswana President Sir. Ketumile Masire, retired South African President Dr. De Klerk and other eminent persons were the mediators, but President Mutharika did not turn up for the mediation despite meeting the expenditure for the mediation talks.
Another futile mediation effort was initiated by the European Union ambassadors in Malawi chaired by Britain.
Reverends Dr. Lazarus Chakwera and Dr. Chingota met the UDF and other opposition parties in September, 2007 where an agreement was reached with President Mutharika but he refused to sign the agreement papers and proceeded to unilaterally prorogue Parliament after passing the Budget.
This is where the two parties have come from in terms of mediation efforts. The analyst said in all these efforts, the UDF and other opposition parties have approached the processes without preconditions, but President Mutharika has turned out to be the aggressor.
Chissano together with former president of Ghana John Kufuor came into the country three weeks ago where they announced that three front-runners in May 19 elections agreed to enter into dialogue to relax tension reduce tension in the run-up to the polls.
Nyasa Times
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