UTM Party says it has launched investigations into the presence of women clad in the party’s cloth at a government function in Lilongwe where President Lazarus Chakwera and Vice-President Michael Usi were in attendance.
The women were on Tuesday seen dancing side by side with Malawi Congress Party (MCP) members at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) where the President opened a Global Fund Board meeting.
Since the UTM Party elective convention in Mzuzu on November 17, this was the first public meeting where Chakwera and Usi were present. That meeting elected former Reserve Bank of Malawi governor Dalitso Kabambe as the party president replacing Usi who took over from founding president Saulos Chilima who died in a military plane crash on June 10 alongside eight others.
In an interview on Wednesday, UTM Party national publicity secretary Felix Njawala said they have seen photos and videos of women dressed in UTM Party colours at a government function and as the executive committee, they are trying to find out who led the women.
He said the party made it clear that its members should not attend government functions following the party’s exit from the Tonse Alliance partnership.
Said Njawala: “The only thing we are saying is, these women were at a place where a government function was taking place.
“For our women to be found where the Vice-President it is not an issue because he is a member of the party but when our party members are found at a government function then it becomes an issue because we are not in the alliance.”
Efforts to talk to Usi proved futile as he was engaged in meetings.
UTM Party announced in July this year that it had quit the Tonse Alliance where lead partner with Malawi Congress Party (MCP) as per the March 2020 agreement sealed by Chakwera and Chilima.
Chakwera, who leads MCP, paired with Chilima of UTM Party as Tonse Alliance in the court-sanctioned fresh presidential election that ousted former president Peter Mutharika.
Chakwera and Chilima who finished second and third, respectively, in the 2019 Presidential Election petitioned the court to nullify the election over irregularities and were granted their wish.
