For some time now, UTM’s partnership with Malawi Congress Party in the Tonse Alliance has been on the edge. Now that partnership is officially dead, a month after UTM founder and president Saulos Chilima was killed in a plane crash. Has UTM taken a suicidal course or one that will make it grow?
By Cathy Maulidi:
UTM has dumped the Tonse Alliance, also announcing it will no longer work with its key partner in the coalition, Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
The party cites betrayal and the undermining of the terms of the 9-member alliance agreement among the reasons for its severing ties with it.
MCP and UTM were the key partners in the alliance entered early in 2020 ahead of the fresh presidential elections.
- Advertisement -
Announcing the decision Friday, UTM spokesperson Felix Njawala, said the party will no longer work with MCP.
- Advertisement -
“We still deeply mourn the loss of our founder and leader. The pain we feel is still raw and difficult to bear.
“However, at this juncture of great significance to our nation, we find ourselves asking: What would have Dr Chilima wanted us to do? And we are convinced that the answer to this question remains as he himself gave it many years ago. That his death should not kill the idea that he had started,” he read from a statement signed by UTM Secretary General, Patricia Kaliati.
Njawala said Chilima’s dreams will not be achieved by the current government as it lacks his spirit and ideas.
“From the very beginning, once the June 2020 Fresh Presidential Election had been won, both the spirit and the letter of the alliance agreement were undermined and betrayed by our colleagues. The very existence of the agreement was denied. And its terms mocked.
- Advertisement -
“It was very clear to us that our colleagues never went into the alliance with honourable or sincere intentions.
“And so today, we want to declare that as a party that believes in the principles of honesty, sincerity and integrity in political dealings, we no longer wish to associate ourselves with political arrangements that are premised on ‘ndiolose ndikakutafune’,” Njawala said.
The party further said:
“By undermining and betraying the agreement the way our colleagues have, they have from the very beginning clearly telegraphed their intention that they no longer considered the agreement binding.
“In a way, therefore, it is them who have repudiated the agreement. And so today, we communicate to this nation that we so dearly love, and the service of which our leader so passionately cherished, that we accept the reality that we have been ejected from the so called Tonse Alliance.”
Moving forward, UTM said it embarks on a journey towards the September 2025 tripartite general elections and towards the party’s October elective conference where they will elect the party’s torchbearer.
Usi in the picture
The press conference came after it held a meeting in the absence of its president, Michael Usi.
Usi assumed the presidency of UTM after Chilima’s death, consistent with the party’s constitution.
Usi is now state Vice President, at the time the party has decided to go its own way from the government.
Kaliati said even though Usi was not present during the meeting, their lawyers advised that the meeting could proceed.
“We consulted our lawyers and they said we could proceed without the party president. The party’s constitution allowed us to proceed and those who were present during the meeting agreed that we proceed,” Kaliati said.
She said the party will hold a National Executive Committee (Nec) meeting this month where it will discuss various issues.
We contacted Usi for his comment.
“I will speak at the right time,” Usi said.
‘Emotional decision’
Political analyst Chimwemwe Tsitsi described UTM’s decision as guided by emotions and not necessarily reasoning.
“I’m saying this because it seems the meeting did not have a clear agenda shared with members in advance and if the agenda wasn’t clear and not shared with those attending the meeting in advance, it implies that there was no room for consultations on the decision made,” Tsitsi said.
Tsitsi doubted if all UTM members, even in its National Executive Committee, are in support of the decision.
He said if there was a unanimous support for the decision, then UTM risks heading into political catastrophe, contrary to the expectation that following the tragic death of Chilima, it would come out strong and continue to pursue the vision of its founding leader.
Tsitsi, however, said the alliance was set on the path of collapse anyway towards next year’s election, looking at the behaviour of the alliance partners.
“For example, some alliance partners already left or expressed interest to go solo as in Kamuzu Chibambo’s Petra and Enock Chihana’s Aford. Even MCP officials are on record saying they were contemplating that the MCP should go solo in 2025. They endorsed Chakwera against the background of the agreement the late Chilima said was made to the effect of changing turns in leadership of the alliance in 2025.
“Since this happened way before his tragic death, for me, all these developments gave me doubts about the alliance going beyond the expiry of its tenure in 2025. But I didn’t expect it to happen as early as today. I was hoping that perhaps the conventions were the ones to settle the future of the alliance,” Tsitsi added.
‘UTM vulnerable’
Another political analyst Wonder Mkutche also described the decision as a hasty one done out of frustrations.
“The party should have first strengthened itself from within before choosing to make this decision. As of now, UTM outside the Tonse Alliance is vulnerable and it may lose its steam as it lacks proper direction.
“The party also needed a good discussion with MCP, its major alliance partner on the future of the alliance. The information from there could have helped a lot in gauging the party’s position not only within the alliance, but also at the national level.” Mkutche said.
‘Waiting for communication’
MCP Publicity Secretary Ezekiel Ching’oma told Malawi News that the party is waiting for official communication from UTM before commenting on the matter.
“Subsequently, we will convene a meeting as a party and thereafter formally disseminate what will transpire to the nation,” Ching’oma said.
Alliance for elections
The fresh elections before which the alliance was created came about after the court nullified the May 2019 presidential election.
In that election, Peter Mutharika (DPP) polled 39 percent of the vote while Lazarus Chakwera (MCP) and Chilima (UTM) collected 35 percent and 20 percent of the votes respectively.
In the fresh presidential election, Chakwera amassed 59 percent of the votes with Chilima as his running mate while Mutharika got 39.9 percent of the votes with Atupele Muluzi (UDF) as his running mate.
