BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Citizens For Transformation, a political movement which is a product of political struggle in the country, has dispelled allegations that Minister of Civic Education and National Unity Timothy Mtambo, who is also the founder and Commander-in-Chief of the grouping, used siren vehicles when he stormed the Northern region over the weekend.

Mtambo, together with Homeland Security Minister, Richard Chimwendo Banda, were in Karonga to woo support for Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidate Leonard Mwalwanda ahead of the November 10 by-election.

However, social media on Monday was abuzz with allegations that the two ministers used siren vehicles, a privilege only accorded to the State President and his vice according to the law.

Reacting, CFT Communications and Public Relations Strategist, Negracious Justin, has described the allegations  as a product of smear campaign and propaganda aimed at tarnishing the image of the CFT leader who has proved to be one of the crowd puller in the country.

“We would like to place it on record that the aforesaid allegations are not true and are nothing but a product of a systematic smear campaign and propaganda, perpetrated by CFT’s rival groups and the UTM party agents who are clearly on a mission to tarnish the image of the CFT and its leadership. The said allegations are also part of the rivals’ overall stratagem to sow seeds of division in the Tonse Alliance, led by his Excellency, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera,” reads the statement in part.

In the statement, Justin further contends that there are some UTM top officials who are sponsoring some members of the media to spread fake news in order to score political points and dent the image of Mtambo and CFT.

“The CFT has been following all the various other acts of insults (through paid social media PR agents) from some overzealous UTM supporters and leaders which are all designed at denting the image of the CIC and the movement. In the spirit of peaceful co-existence, the CFT has often chosen not to respond to these allegations.

“Honourable Mtambo is a charismatic, Civilised and a peace loving politician who always pulls big crowds in the Constituency, purely on account of his issue based campaign messages, a phenomenon that does not sit well with some rival political groupis that are also going for the same parliamentary seat,” the statement reads further.

According to Justin, this is not the first time UTM officials have published “Cheap propaganda” as every time which Mtambo visits the constituency to drum support for MCP candidate Mwalwanda, the counterparts create fake news to divert people’s attention from strong campaign messages made by the MCP entourage.

While recognizing freedom of the press, CFT has implored on the media to verify the stories before the same can be published for public consumption to avoid misleading the public on important issues.

The parliamentary seat in Karonga Central Constituency fell vacant following the death of Cornelius Mwalwanda  who won on MCP ticket in 2019 parliamentary elections.