Chibambo’s move exposes Tonse cracks
People’s Transformation Party (Petra) president Kamuzu Chibambo’s decision to withdraw from the Tonse Alliance administration has exposed serious organisational and governance flaws demanding immediate attention, remaining alliance partners and political analysts have said.
Chibambo, who was designated the Tonse Alliance leaders’ spokesperson, announced in a statement yesterday his party ’s withdrawal from the nine-member alliance ushered into power through the June 23 2020 court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election.
He cited growing corruption as evidenced by events surrounding the arrest of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Martha Chizuma among his reasons for calling it quits.
Chibambo also said the closure of State produce t rader Ag r i c u l t u r a l Development and Marketing Corperation (Admarc), looming hunger due to governance failures and dubious procurement and haphazard supply of fertilisers under the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) are other reasons.
He said: “Some of our courts too, including the highest court in the land, have come under public scrutiny as to whether they are sincerely fighting corruption or they are instead aiding and abetting it.
“The truth of the matter is that all the above failures, wrongs and bad decisions amid several others are not only contrary to what we campaigned for in the 2020 Presidential Election, but are also increasingly frustrating all genuine efforts to fight this vice and the rule of law.”
The Petra leader called for the citizenry to rise and unite in the fight against corruption, warning the future generation if the vice continues soaring.
“In light of this, Petra’s leadership is left with no option but to withdraw with immediate effect its membership from the Tonse Alliance, as it hereby does,” he said.
Reacting to Chibambo’s move yesterday, his close ally Mark Katsonga Phiri of Progressive People’s Movement said government was going astray on the Chizuma case.
He said: “Four of us normally meet in Blantyre, but we didn’t meet to discuss Petra’s withdrawal.
“We are in a situation where government is fighting donors, civil society, the Malawi Law Society over the Chizuma issue which is unfortunate. The problem is that people in Malawi Congress Party [MCP] feel other partners are non-entities.”
Katsonga Phiri, who was dropped from President Lazarus Chakwera’s Cabinet last week, said it was unfortunate that Chibambo had finally left the alliance.
“He has been trying since last year to secure a meeting with the President [Lazarus Chakwera on his concerns], but that has not happened. We hope a meeting [of alliance partners] will be held soon,” he said.
UTM Party spokesperson Felix Njawala said the last time alliance partners met was on July 7 2022.
He stressed the need to meet the soonest to resolve many issues that they are facing, some of which have been mentioned by Chibambo.
On his part, former vice-president Khumbo Kachali, who heads another alliance partner, Freedom Party said Chibambo should have stayed in the alliance.
MCP spokesperson Reverend Maurice Munthali said they would have loved to finish the five-year term together, while finding solutions to the country’s challenges.
“But that is the choice he has made, we cannot change that,” he said.
Meanwhile, governance expert George Chaima has said Chibambo’s decision was a vote of no confidence in the leadership, and a reflection of poor governance systems.
On his part, political analyst Ernest Thindwa said Chibambo and Petra do not have incentives to continue being part of the governing coalition.
He said: “The party has not been allocated a ministerial position nor does it see the coalition as retaining the electoral appeal it enjoyed in the 2020 Fresh Presidential Elections.
“The future of the coalition hinges very much on participating parties’ perceived incentives for sustaining association with the political consortium.”
In 2020, MCP, UTM and seven other political partners committed to work together and signed a memorandum of understanding to support President Lazarus Chakwera of MCP as the presidential candidate with Saulos Chilima of UTM Party as running mate.
But in the recent past, a growing number of senior MCP officials have endorsed Chakwera’s candidacy in the 2025 presidential elections.
Following Petra’s quitting, the remaining parties in the coalition are MCP, UTM Party, Umodzi Party, Peoples Party , PPM, Alliance for Democracy, Freedom Party and Mafunde.
