BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi’s Attorney General (AG) Charles Mhango on Tuesday appealed to Supreme Court of appeal in Blantyre against judge John Chirwa ruling who last Friday ordered that United Transformation Movement (UTM) be registered as a political party within seven days.
AG Mhango appeal has short-lived the celebrations of UTM supporters.
UTM supporters were last Friday parading in the streets of Blantyre, singing and dancing pro-UTM and Saulos Chilima’s songs after the ruling.
In his appeal application Mhango as asked the seven powered Judges of Supreme Court look into judge John Chirwa’s ruling urging that his ruling may set precedents, that in future political parties can be registered by only abbreviations and not full names.
UTM leadership is yet to respond to the development as it needs to fight back in court for the party’s registration.
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-A political survey report IPOR (Institute of Public Opinion & Research) finalised by August this year, reveals that the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with President Peter Mutharika will narrowly win Malawi’s 2019 elections against the main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP)
The research report which is titled “POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT TOWARDS THE 2019 TRIPARTITE ELECTIONS IN MALAWI”, says the next year’s polls is for the three parties DPP, MCP and United Transformation Movement (UTM) leaving out Peoples Party (PP) and United Democratic Front (UDF).
“In terms of voting intentions, in the presidential, parliamentary and local government races, the ruling DPP was ahead in the national vote, followed very closely by the MCP”, the report concludes.
In the report, IPOR reveals that the DPP leads on party identification (support) with 33% ahead of MCP) (31%) and UTM (17%).
When looking at the demographics, the report reveals that the DPP appeals to all age groups, especially the youth.
The party enjoys a great balance of support across all regions. Southern Region remains DPP’s stronghold, with the MCP and UTM rejected by the voters to a mere 5 per cent to MCP and 8 per cent support to UTM.
The ruling party will have increased performance in the Central Region, coming second. However, it comes second in the North – with a very narrow margin.
Interestingly, the DPP has shown a strong performance in both urban and rural areas. This makes it a party that the people love, support, and has a universal appeal across all demographics.
Malawians listed food shortage (18%), management of the economy (16%), and poverty or destitution (7%) as top challenges the government should address. Those three areas are the key areas where the current administration has performed on very well.
Since 2014, no Malawian has died of hunger. The economy has been stable and growing, leading the SADC region in performance. Inflation remains stable under 9%. The interest rate has remained unchanged at 16%. These factors have led to the improved conditions of the lives of Malawians.
The report outcomes are in line with findings of the Economist Intelligence Unit. For five times in a row since June 2016, EIU has predicted President Peter Mutharika to win.
With or without the new political parties, the DPP remains the bedrock of hope for the future of Malawi. Government performance in developing the country, and growing the economy bears testimony to that.
United Transformation Movement (UTM) has postponed its elective convention which was initially scheduled for November 9.
In a statement issued Monday, signed by the movement’s spokesperson Joseph Chidanti-Malunga, the grouping says they have set up a special committee which will look at all the processes involved in organising a convention.
Chidanti-Malunga also confirmed the development in a telephone interview, saying there were other issues the grouping needed to sort out before holding the indaba.
“There are some technical issues we need to deal with; for example, we need to make an announcement of aspiring candidates and minimum requirement [to contest for positions]. You recall that when we announced the date of the convention, we did not announce the positions [that will be contested for].
“All technical issues surrounding the convention were not met; so, right now, UTM has set up a committee that will look into that,” he said.
Chidanti-Malunga further said the grouping has shifted its regional conferences which were supposed to start this weekend in Nkhotakota and Karonga respectively.
“The regional conferences have been shifted so that we have enough time to organise them and make sure that our colleagues are going to attend the conference as well as know when and how the conferences will take place,” he said.
Chancellor College-based political analyst, Mustapha Hussein, said the group has to sort out issues of registration in order to give aspiring candidates hope.
“We still have a few months to go but the thing I can say is they [UTM] need to sort out issues of registration as well as the convention as soon as possible because they are running out of time. It is important that they ensure that the group is registered as a party and hold a convention. This, in turn, will send a message of hope to its aspiring candidates,” he said.
The Malawi Congress Party was the first to hold its national elective convention followed by the Democratic Progressive Party, United Democratic Front and the Peoples Party.
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has summoned State vice president Saulos Chilima to explain on his allegations that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) wants to rig the May 21 2019 elections.
Chilima, while launching the United Transformation Movement (UTM) in July, alleged that he is aware that government has procured a spying machine.
MEC chairperson of civic and media committee Moffat Banda described as “shameful and unfortunate” claims by Chilima about the existence of a rigging machine in the country.
Banda said MEC has appointed a team of experts to question Chilima’s allegations.
“These allegations are very serious. They have potential to discredit the election results. This is why we want the vice president to explain to us in detail on the issue,” said Banda.
Banda could however not say when Chilima, who heads the most trending political movement, UTM will appear before the pollster.
Chilima has been saying that the government has bought a rigging machine to enable the ruling party rig the 2019 highly contested polls.
The veep’s special assistant Milward Tobias and the UTM spokesperson Joseph Chidanti Malunga said they needed to get details on the matter before commenting.
Police also summoned Chilima a few months ago over the same allegations but he never appeared before the law enforcers.
Aleady the credibility of the next year;s elections have started being damaged with the main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and civil society organisations (CSOs) under the banner of Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HDRC) calling for the immediate resignation of Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Justice Jane Ansah over incompetence in how she has handled the missing voter registration kit.
The development has raised fears of possible rigging in the 2019 Tripartite Elections.
But MEC has since ruled out any possibility of data in a biometric registration kit found in Mozambique being used to rig the 2019 elections, saying the information in the machine was for civic education and not voter registration.
MEC claims that all the data in the recovered kit is intact as it was encrypted.
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The High Court in Blantyre on Tuesday (today) reserved its ruling on appeal case made by the newly formed United Transformation Movement (UTM) against registrar of political party’s decision to reject registration of a grouping as a party.
UTM which is led by the country’s Vice President Dr. Saulos Chilima was refused to register as political party last month on grounds that the grouping provided misleading information.
The development forced the grouping to launch an appeal against the registrar’s decision and the case was scheduled for today.
During the case, the respondents argued that it was right for the registrar to take into account what was in the public domain i.e the name United Transformation Movement was already in the public domain so any reasonable registrar would have arrived at the decision he did.
However, Goba, Counsel for the appellant (UTM) quashed the claim saying any reasonable or well trained lawyer should not have made that assertion.
Instead, he said the legal question in the legal matters should be : what are the constituting documents and what do they say about the name of the party, and not what’s in the public domain.
After all, there have been a lot of things in the public domain such as Chilima Movement, United Transformation Movement, and Transformation Movement.
The case has since been adjourned to later date. This has put the movement in fixed towards it mass rallies advancing across the country.
Barely four months after its birth, the Saulos Chilima Movement is hurtling down to its tragic collapse courtesy of an internal crisis composed of five factors, investigations have established.
A pervasive and growing public opinion now is that United Transformation Movement (UTM) has been no more than noise of frustrated and failed politicians and has no relevance in Malawi’s politics.Our investigations have established that the group is being riveted by a chain of factors leading to its failure to gain public and electoral advantage and facing imminent death.
REGISTRATION NIGHTMARE
Chilima’s close allies in the group are expressing uncertainty about the future of the group as it struggles to get registered as a political party.
The Registrar of Political Parties dismissed its application two weeks ago on the grounds that it lied on its name to avoid being rejected since there is already a registered party with a similar name, UTP (United Transformation Party), which is led by businessman Newton Kambala. The matter is in court now and insiders are uncertain the case will be concluded in good time for the Chilima Movement to get ready and compete in the elections next year.
Worse still, some of the leaders of the group feel they have demonstrated a high level of political incompetence in the handling of the registration issue as the group now faces the bleak prospect of failing to participate in the elections.
CHILIMA’S DRUNKENNESS
Ring leaders of the movement are also worried with Chilima’s drunkenness. Chilima has been addressing some rallies while drunk to an exent of failing to walk properly and making himself subject of public laughter and scorn. One of the leaders confided in us that they have tried to take up this issue with Chilima as it is destroying the public image of the group. But he has been uncooperative.
“He tells us that he is a shy person and also that he is too stressed; so he drinks and takes cociane to deal with his shyness and to remove stress,” said one well-placed insider (name withheld).
His refusal to change is leaving those close to him increasingly unhappy knowing the amount of work they will need to put in for the group to gain reputation.
CHILIMA’S MENTAL STATE
Strategists and close allies are also beginning to fear for Chilima’s sanity .They say problems rocking the movement and its failure to gain a foothold in the country have driven Chilima into despair such that …..
CHILIMA’S LEADERSHIP FAILURES
Apart from his drunkenness and unstable state of mind, Chilima has failed to prove his leadership qualities as the group is bedevilled by infighting which he is failing to manage. There is concern that he is failing to provide a sense of direction for the group.
DIVISIONS IN THE CAMP
The Chilima Movement is further being dragged down by divisions in its top echelons. The first dimension of the divisions is around the trio of Newton Kambala, Richard Msowoya and Michael Usi – all of whom feel they have good claims to be second in command.
Usi is staking his claim on account that he would appeal to the youth and woo votes from the South where he is more popular — as a comedian and not a politician. Usi comes from Mulanje district.
Kambala’s bargaining chip is that he has a party, United Transformation Party. Regardless that it does not have people, it has some structures which would bolster UTM’s registration chances with the Registrar of Political Parties if UTM opts to mutate to UTP.
As for Richard Msowoya, his sales pitch is that he will use his position as Speaker of Parliament and former MCP deputy president to bring MCP MPs into the UTM fold.
We can report that Msowoya did manage to woo some of those MPs but as of now the MPs have expressed uncertainity of their future in UTM.
They have so far met Chilima twice – and are expected to meet him again this week. But they report that Chilima has not given them any sense of direction as to their future in the movement.
As a result, some of the MPs are opting to pull out and work either as independents or work with other political parties.
The second dimension of the divisions arise from the uncertainty over the group’s registration. Some in UTM have proposed that they should change the name. However, Chilima is adamant on name change, arguing that they have invested a lot in the UTM brand.
However, political analysts and legal minds have questioned Chilima’s wisdom of investing heavily in a group that is not registered and does not exist according to the laws of the land.
FINANCIAL SITUATION
UTM emerged on the stage with evidence of a strong financial position. Its branding, vehicles and group paraphenalia have kept people wondering what is the source of its money.
But the truth is that UTM is struggling with finances as the few financiers who thought UTM held any prospects are withdrawing their support upon realizing that UTM is a failed project and is destined for a crash.
In addition, some of the leaders are becoming unmotivated to promote the group as Chilima is not sharing with them the money that he is getting from some financiers.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of the Publisher or the Editor of Maravi Post
The Blantyre City Council (BCC) on Thursday denied permission to United Transformation Movement (UTM) to hold a public rally at Nyambadwe Primary School ground in Ndirande which was planned for Saturday.
The movement which the country’s Vice-President Saulos Chilima is leading broke ranks with the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and declared he will challenge President Peter Mutharika in the presidential race in the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections— was scheduled to hold the rally in the squatter township of Ndirande to continue its mobilisation ahead of the election.
BCC Director of administration Lytton Nkata on behalf of chief executive officer Alfred Chanza, could not grant the UTM a go ahead for the rally because it has learnt that the Registrar of Political Parties’ has rejected of its application to register as a party.
“We regret to inform you that permission is hereby not granted for the United Transformation Movement (UTM) to hold the rally on the ground that it has come to the Council’s knowledge that you are not registered asa apolitical party,” reads the letter from BCC to UTM’s national chairman Noel Masangwi.
“ As you are aware, Section 17 (2) of the Political Parties (Registration and Regulations) Act prohibits any political party or any combination that is not registered from electioneering or authorising any person to act on its behalf in connection with an election in which political parties contest,” reads the letter in part .
Deputy Registrar of Political Parties Chikumbutso Namelo said in a letter dated September 21 2018 addressed to Ritz Attorneys, the law firm representing UTM, warned the movement that electioneering when it is not registered is an offence under the Political Parties Act. The offence is liable to a fine of MK2 000.
Electioneering, according to the Section 17 of the Political Parties Act, is not allowed unless a political party or “combination of persons” is registered.
BCC letter signed by Nkata said they have “evidence” which show that UTM has been holding similar rallies in the recebt past which were electioneering and it is likely that the intention of holding a rally at Nyambadwe groun is to continue electioneering while the UTM remains unregistered thereby knowingly committing an offence.
UTM interim secretary general Patricia Kaliati therefore said in the movement would respect the registrar’s decision and respond within the given 21 days.
She said the party would proceed with the convention slated for November 9, 2018.
This is not the first time that a new political party challenging the status quo of a governing party has been in trouble with the Registrar of Political Parties.
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The United Transformation Movement (UTM) is expected to appeal at the High Court the decision by Registrar of Political Parties to refuse to register the grouping as a political party in Malawi.
UTM filed the documents with the Registrar of Political Parties on September 13 2018 but the Registrar has rejected the application because “the application is not conformity with the [Political Parties] Act in terms of Section 7 (1) as read with Section 18(a) (1) and (ii) of the Act”.
Deputy registrar of political parties, Chikumbutso Numelo, said in the application UTM officials “consciously and deliberately submitted documents which carefully omit any reference to the full name under which they have been publicly holding out as [United Transformation Movement].”
Numelo said: “The publicly known fact that UTM is not a standalone name but an abbreviation for United Transformative Movement is a relevant matter which as Registrar of Political Parties with responsibility of registering and regulating political parties I have to take into account.”
But UTM leader Saulso Chilima said in a post on his Facebook page in quick reaction to the development that they will seek court help.
“The registrar of political parties is refusing to register us as a party but we’ll not relent. We have trust in our justice system and we will let the law take its course,” wrote Chilima
In a statement, UTM spokesperson Joseph Chidanti-Malunga said they “vehemently disagree” with the determination of the Registrar of Political Parties on a number of reasons and that they were not given an opportunity to be heard on the matter.
Malunga said they have instructed the movement’s legal counsel to file an appeal in the High Court against the determination of the Registrar.
UTM is appealing to its members, supporters and all well wishers to “remain calm as the situation is under control.”
But the deputy registrar pointed out that the decision to present registration documents in the name of UTM and not the full name, United Transformation Movement, from which the abbreviation UTM derives was “will fully intended to mislead the Registrar of political parties for purposes of obtaining registration of the party.”
Numelo believes the scheme “to mislead” the Registrar was motivated by the knowledge of the applicants of the existence of the United Transformation Party (UTP) being a name which resembles that of United Transformation Movement – which the Registrar would have considered in registering owing to Section 7 (b) (ii) – due to its similarities.
UTP is led by Newton Kambala, a businessperson and former president of Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI), who is now in UTM and has been saying publicly that they rebranded to UTM.
The Registrar has also informed the applicants that it is an offence under Section 17 of the Political Parties Act to electioneer in connection with an election in which political parties contest unless it is a registered party.
Numelo said if UTM is not satisfied with the decision it can appeal to the High Court within 21 days.
UTP registered as political party number 50 on March 23 2016 and has been a key member of opposition political parties, primarily without parliamentary representation, that formed a coalition bloc dubbed ‘ Tikonze Dziko Lathu’ , to field a candidate during next year’s polls.
UTM, which started as Chilima Movement, and has been working with Wodya Zake Alibe Mlandu political grouping headed by Michael Usi, popularly known as Manganya. has maintained UTP’s red and gold colours, but changed other things such as the logo and motto.
They will hold their elective convention on November 9 2018 at a venue to be communicated later.
UTM activities will meanwhile continue and it is reported that they have a rally in Ndirande Township, Blantyre on Saturday.
The case in which Forum for National Development [FND] sued Speaker of Parliament Richard Msowoya to stop performing his duties of the post has been adjourned to a date to be advised by the High Court in Blantyre.
On Monday, 24 September the court was expected to continue hearing the case after it was adjourned on 28 August following the appeal from FND lawyers to prepare to answer the objections made by state lawyers.
In an interview with State Lawyer, Owen Chuma, confirmed the development saying the case has been adjourned to a later date.
“When we came to court on 28 august, lawyer for FND asked for an adjournment so that he could respond to the objections.Then the matter was adjourned to today at 2:00 o’clock but when I arrived at the court i was told that the judge who was abraod had arrived home last Saturday and that he was not prepared to hear the matter today. So it has been adjourned to a date to be advised,” Chuma said.
On the court proceedings of 28 August, State Lawyer, Owen Chuma filed two objections in the court.
In his application Chuma raised a preliminary objection saying FND sued a wrong party (Office of the Speaker of National Assembly) saying they were supposed to sue the Attorney General’s office.
He said the office of the speaker is a public office so it cannot be sued in the case hence asking the removal of the office in the matter.
Chuma further said that FND has no interest on the matter as it cannot stand for Malawians saying they are presented by member of parliament.
“FND does not have locus stand or Sufficient interest in this matter. They do not represent Malawians because Malawians are represented by MPs, this issue can only be resolved by an MP to move a motion to impeach him for crossing the floor,” explained Chuma.
Yesterday the court was supposed to make its rulling on weather to grant an injuction after hearing both the preliminary objections and the substantive matter.
In June the then MCP’s Vice President announced his resignation from the party saying he will continue serving his constituents as an independent lawmaker.
Msowoya said Malawi Congress Party leadership is no longer standing on its pillars that it has been promoting for decades, hence his resignation.
Msowoya then joined United Transformation Movement (UTM) after days of his resignation announcement.
After the speaker’s announcement to joining UTM, Forum for National Development made an application for an order of interlocutory injunction restraining Richard Msowoya from exercising functions and duties of the office of the Speaker and restraining the Office of the Speaker of National Assembly (OSNA) from recognizing Msowoya as Speaker and further restraining OSNA from according him any rights or privileges that are accorded to Speaker of NA.
This is beause FND alleges that Richard Msowoya crossed the floor when he dumped MCP and joined UTM
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The Ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) southern regional governor, Charles Mchacha, on Wednesday turned the official opening of 15th National Agriculture Fair into a political rally by attacking United Transformation Movement (UTM) members.
Charles Mchacha who was not among the speakers at the official opening of the Agriculture Fair surprised the masses when he said UTM is a group of people who are corrupt and smugglers.
Mchacha said UTM is a group of people who have lost direction as they don’t know what to do.
The DPP southern regional governor went on saying that the ruling party members love the vice president and UTM leader, Dr. Saulos Chilima, but he is surrounded with bad people.
He said the political grouping which is being headed by the Veep is yet to be registered and that its members greedy.
“At DPP we love Dr. Saulos Chilima, but the thing he is surrounded by bad people who just want to receive favors from the President of the country. Most of the members that are in the so called United Transformation Movement are smugglers and corrupt,” Mchacha said.
But this was contrary with what his boss, President Peter Mutharika, said during the official opening of the national Agriculture Fair as he said people should avoid politicizing things meant for development of Malawians.
President Peter Mutharika said the factor of politicizing things is making ordinary Malawians to continue suffering as this does not add to the development of the country.
Mutharika said Malawians should learn to work together in different things as that can help political leaders achieve their common goal of developing their areas.
In his opening statement, Mutharika said the country should respect farmers as they are doing a magnificent job of feeding the country and also making sure that the country gets foreign currencies when they sell their produce outside the country.
“Few days ago I was in China, I should say here that I was impressed to see people their working together in development activities, I saw the civil society organizations, political parties, and government departments working together,”.
“So here in Malawi lets adapt this spirit lets avoid politicizing everything and work together to achieve our common goal which is development,” Mutharika explained.
Meanwhile, UTM spokesperson Chidanti Malunga has condemned the ruling party politicizing state functions.
DPP on a number of occasions has been blamed for politicizing functions and including people on the program who were not supposed to speak.
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