Bon Kalindo dumps UTM

UTM national youth director Bon Kalindo announced his resignation from the party yesterday, faulting the Tonse Alliance-led administration for watering corruption.

Kalindo said this at a press briefing in Blantyre, where he maintained that cases of corruption had worsened under the current regime.

“Apart from the remarks that were made by the secretary general and spokesperson of the party that I found demeaning, I want to go and be with Malawians. People are suffering out there and no one should ask me about what challenges are being faced because they are visible on the ground.

“Since the tradition has been that politicians that are in power should not speak when they see anything wrong, I want to be different and I will maintain my stand. This is not a UTM or Tonse Alliance issue; this is an issue affecting Malawians. As such, I have decided to step down from my party until further notice,’’ he said.

He said Malawians should, by now, start questioning why the government is failing to investigate the plunder of Covid funds.

Kalindo also said that he was disgruntled because Malawians were promised one million jobs and loans that never came into existence.

This comes at a time Kalindo is expected to lead a mass demonstration in the streets of Blantyre in protests against what he calls the high cost of living and unfulfilled campaign promises.

‘‘I am also hearing from the media that there is a group of people trying to stop the demonstrations but I want to assure Malawians that we are not stopping. If they go to court to obtain an injunction, we will do likewise and vacate it and our lawyers are ready because we know their plans. We are exercising our constitutional right to go and demonstrate on issues we feel are impinging on our rights,’’ he added.

Reacting to the accusations made by Kalindo, UTM spokesperson Frank Mwenifumbo said it was unrealistic for people to expect the Tonse Alliance-led administration to achieve most of its promises before the end of its five-year tenure.

“We have received the resignation [message] and we regret that Kalindo is no longer with the party because we valued him. On the accusations made, we believe it is unrealistic to expect the government to fulfil all its promises in a short time,” he said.