UTM North deputy regional governor denies resigning

UTM Party deputy regional governor (North) Nengezi Ziwa has clarified on her purported resignation.

The development came after The Nation edition of May 19 2023 published a story about her resignation based on an alleged WhatsApp communication to her boss Moses Mlenga.

But in a letter dated May 19 2023 addressed to the party’s secretary general Patricia Kaliati, Ziwa said the information was entirely false and without any basis.

The letter reads in part: “I am writing to address a recent article published in The Nation newspaper, which falsely claims that I, Mrs. Nengezi, the deputy regional governor for UTM Party have resigned from my position. I would like to clarify that the information presented in the article is entirely false and without any basis.”

In an interview yesterday, Ziwa said she wrote Kaliati to clarify that she has not tendered any resignation letter to the party.

 “Yes, I have written the party’s secretary general so that the leadership knows that I haven’t resigned,” she said. 

But in the purported leaked conversation from Nengezi to Mlenga, this is what she allegedly wrote: “Phepani bwana RG [regional governor] pa chilichose icho mukupulika munigowokere nilije mtima wakupoka mpando nesi kupikisana namwe. Pa ichi nawona nipange withdraw mpando wa DRG [deputy regional governor] chifukwa banthu waninangiskenge mu vinandi.

“Nkhukhumba yayi kuti munidandaulenge. Phepani RG mu chilishose. Ndine mwana winu Nengezi” [Sorry RG for everything you have heard. I don’t have ambitions to compete for your position. Therefore, I will withdraw from being DRG].

On Thursday, the party’s spokesperson Felix Njawala expressed ignorance, saying his office did not receive any resignation letter from Ziwa.