Hours after Malawi Congress Party (MCP) spokesperson Jessie Kabwila told Vice-President Michael Usi to resign if he is unhappy with how government is being run, Usi threw back a barrage of salvos.
Speaking during whistle-stop campaign rallies for the September 16 General Election, Usi said he is not done yet with pointing out ills in the current administration where he is serving as second in-command.
Usi was responding to pronouncements by Kabwila during a press conference earlier yesterday at MCP headquarters in Lilongwe where she called on Usi to step down as Vice-President if he is to point fingers at the administration.
She said MCP was giving Usi, whom President Lazarus Chakwera appointed Vice-President in June 2024 after the death in a military plane crash of Saulos Chilima, 24 hours to step down if he feels he is not in the right place.
Further, Kabwila, who is Minister of Higher Education, proclaimed that MCP will still win the September 16 General Election despite Usi’s allegations.
She said: “We are saying, if you don’t like being in government, get out. You can’t use our resources, come and be abusing what we have necessitated.
“If he has problems with this government he is free to resign and we would be glad to receive his resignation.”
But responding to Kabwila’s call at Ulongwe in Balaka District yesterday, Usi, who is contesting for the presidency under his Odya Zake Alibe Mlandu Party, maintained his stand that there is abuse of resources in government.
He said: “It is clear to everyone that the economy is not good and that things are not okay in this country. Yet you want me to be just saying ‘Igwee!! Igweee!! [title for chief among Igbo people in Nigeria]’. I will not do that.
“When I say there are thieves in government, I know what I am talking about. I am the Vice-President and I am in government. So, if someone in government feels aggrieved with what I have said and comes out to say I am not grateful, let them come out and prove there are no thieves in government.”
Usi dismissed suggestions that he is ungrateful despite being appointed Vice-President, but said he will not be silenced when he sees things going wrong.
In his campaign message, he urged voters not to be carried away with T-shirts and other party materials that political aspirants are giving out during the campaign, saying such items will not bring fertiliser or food to the households.
During the press conference, Kabwila said Usi should show gratitude to the President for honouring an agreement with the UTM Party, formerly a key partner in the now disintegrated nine-party Tonse Alliance, to still pick a Vice-President from UTM after Chilima’s death.
She also questioned the source of funding for Usi’s political campaign, arguing that his salary as Vice-President cannot meet the cost of vehicles and other party materials that the Odya Zake Alibe Mlandu is utilising for the campaign.
Usi has of late been attacking the MCP administration on corruption, abuse of resources, political interference in government operations, and other vices which he said have hindered the country’s development and citizens’ wellbeing.
Meanwhile, political analysts have described as misplaced MCP’s calls for Usi to step down.
In an interview, political analyst Wonderful Mkhutche said government and MCP should rather engage the Veep to provide evidence of what his claims.
“The call is not in line with the fight against corruption. What the Vice-President is doing is simply to highlight some of the challenges, in particular with corruption, that are happening in government,” he said.
In a separate interview, another analyst George Chaima also said MCP has no right to ask Usi to step down as Vice-President, saying doing so creates the impression that MCP is shielding the rot in government and wants to silence him.
He also wondered why the party was being defensive instead of leaving it to government to respond to issues about government.
