UTM, the party co-founded and built by the late vice president Saulos Chilima, is in a state of turmoil.
Last Thursday, the current UTM leader, who is also State Vice-President Michael Usi, directed deputy secretary general Ben Chidyaonga that in view of the arrest of the party’s secretary general (SG) Patricia Kaliati, the national executive committee (NEC) meeting, scheduled for last Friday to prepare for the national delegates conference on November 17, be postponed.
Chidyaonga, according to internal communication The Nation has seen, duly transmitted Usi’s directive to NEC members deferring their meeting “in view of the arrest of the SG” and that a new date would be advised.
Later on, a top level party official who sits in the party’s NEC and Central Committee (CC), reached out to Usi, claiming that members were pressing for the meeting to proceed and asked for the party leader’s blessing.
The Vice-President said “No” as it would be inappropriate to proceed with a meeting at a time the fate of the party’s SG remained unclear.
But come Friday, October 25, a UTM NEC meeting took place at the party’s headquarters in Lilongwe’s Area 12, which made decisions on the upcoming convention, including confirmation of dates, venues and ratifying nomination fees.
What does all this mean and what bearing will it have on the party?
“To call a spade a spade, UTM now is not operating as a single unit,” said private practice lawyer John-Gift Mwakhwawa, who has deep and broad experience representing political parties on legal matters for decades.
He said while NEC has the mandate to set dates for a convention, going against “such an order from the party president” points to serious disagreements within the party”.
Political commentator George Chaima said in a separate interview yesterday that by defying the party president and proceeding to hold a NEC meeting with such far-reaching resolutions such as convention dates and ratifying nomination fees—the highest in history at K20 million for presidential candidates—without involving its leader, the Friday gathering has put UTM into turmoil.
He explained that in the event that the UTM constitution gives powers to the president to have a say on convention dates, any decisions made by the NEC which are contrary to the leader’s authority maybe be deemed null and void.
He added: “This is clear evidence that there is still disorder in UTM. If they proceed to hold the convention when the president has not been consulted, they may find themselves breaking the law, which could create the possibility for some to challenge the outcome.”
Political analyst Ernest Thindwa said the open defiance points to two issues: it demonstrates leadership contestation and organisational challenges within UTM.
“General acceptance remains an issue in the party. There is no common agreement on leadership. Secondly, there is a lack of embracing democratic ideas. The culture of coming together to agree on issues is not there,” he said.
Meanwhile, internal party communication we have seen and interviews with multiple sources in UTM NEC and CC show that members of the party politburo are split on how to treat debts that some estimates peg at around K4 billion, which they say were incurred during the late Saulos Chilima era, but which the party never sanctioned.
The multiple sources claim that the multi-billion kwacha liabilities were contracted by Chilima’s trusted senior party lieutenants, but which NEC never sanctioned as per the UTM Constitution.
“What was all that money used for? There are no records showing it was used for the benefit of the party and now some of these people want UTM to inherit these liabilities, it doesn’t make sense?” argued one member of the CC. She added that “they want this loan on UTM’s balance sheet and I am bitter about that because it is for selfish reasons.”
Two other NEC members said the post-Chilima UTM led by Usi is disassociating itself from the K4 billion liabilities while key figures in the faction that broke away from the Tonse Alliance wants the NEC to officially adopt the liabilities as UTM obligations.
“They want to pawn the loan to a major party seeking our electoral support through an alliance,” said one of the officials.
This debt is causing key figures in the camp that has opposed Usi from the start to push for a candidate who is more likely to take the political grouping into an alliance with a major party ready to “inherit” the debts, according to sources within the CC and the NEC.
One CC member told The Nation in an interview on Saturday that negotiations with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to swallow UTM for its electoral support are at an advanced stage on condition that they take over the debts.
This was corroborated by a senior DPP official who is a close ally of former President Peter Mutharika.
But this DPP politiburo member said in an interview yesterday that influential people who have the President’s ear are vehemently against DPP shouldering a debt burden that did not benefit the ex-ruling party.
But in a terse and brief response, UTM treasurer general Olipa Muyaba said she was not aware of the issue.
The party’s publicity secretary Felix Njawala said: “We do not have this debt. Some details are better kept to ourselves. Our political landscape is not conducive. Our democracy has not matured yet. It is still a crime to belong to a political grouping deemed to be a rival camp.”
Commenting on the alleged unsanctioned debts, political analyst Victor Chipofya Junior said political parties in Malawi need to start functioning as entities not individuals.
He argued that much as the alleged debt needs to be paid, UTM has to form an alliance with other parties based on its core values and beliefs, saying it would be immoral “to sell the party’s followers because of debt”.
UTM is set to hold its convention on November 17 in Mzuzu. Six individuals have already declared their interests to vie for the party’s most powerful post.
These include: Vice-President Usi, Kaliati, former Minister of Energy Newton Kambala and Engineer-cum-motivational speaker Matthews Mtumbuka.
Others are former Reserve Bank of Malawi governor Dalitso Kabambe and the party’s national director of youth Fredo Penjani Kalua commonly known as Fredokiss.
