UTM Party spokesperson Felix Njawala has maintained that the party is no longer a member of the Tonse Alliance despite the party’s president Michael Usi, who is also the country’s Vice-President, insisting that the party is still in the alliance.
In an interview monitored on Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) on Saturday, Usi claimed that UTM Party is still in the alliance based on an agreement signed by the party’s former president, the late Saulos Chilima, who died in a military plane crash in Chikangawa Forest in Nkhata Bay on June 10.
On July 12, UTM Party executive held a press briefing in Lilongwe where they announced the party’s exit from the Tonse Alliance.
But Usi on Saturday claimed that those agitating for the exit were just bitter that he was appointed by President Lazarus Chakwera as Vice-President.
“They are now ganging up to challenge me as president of the party,” he said.
But in an interview on Sunday, Njawala maintained that the party exited the Tonse Alliance, wondering what Usi meant when he said the UTM Party is still part of the alliance.
“Maybe he meant something else, but the fact remains that the UTM Party left the alliance and that is on record,” he said.
Political analyst George Chaima said going by what Usi has said, the UTM Party is still in an alliance and that the decision to pull out was done without a proper agreement within the party.
