Submitted By Cornelius Wa Mapira
AS the campaign for a fresh presidential election gathers momentum, the opposition United Transformation Movement, which is in an electoral alliance with Malawi Congress Party, is falling apart in the Eastern Region as hundreds of its key officials are ditching the party in favour of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
On Saturday, three former UTM aspiring members of parliament from Zomba Chisi, Nsondole and Likangala, accompanied by UTM youths from Liwonde, swarmed the residence of DPP Vice President for the Eastern Region, Bright Msaka, where they were welcomed and inducted into the governing party.
Welcoming the team to the DPP/UDF electoral alliance, Msaka, who is Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Member of Parliament for Machinga Likwenu Constituency, said the development is a sign that the region is staunchly behind the candidature of His Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.
He said returning Professor Mutharika as the president of this country will preserve the hard-won democracy, which Malawians voted for in the referendum of 1993 after they were fed up with MCP’s autocratic rule and three decades of terror.
Professor Mutharika, who was declared winner of the 2019 May tripartite elections, faces a bloated opposition alliance again in a fresh election after the High Court, sitting as a Constitutional Court, nullified the presidential election citing massive irregularities.
The Justice Minister said the exodus of people from the Tonse Alliance of MCP and UTM, is a clear indication that Malawians do not wish to go back to the dark days of MCP.
Taking turns, the former UTM shadow members of parliament, Bernard Khobiri, Barnett Mtungama and Asima Mponda, said they have decided to join the DPP because they are not happy with the alliance of their former party and MCP.
In his remark’s leader for the UTM youth at Liwonde, Patrick Amoni, said it is regrettable that the UTM has for the past 10 months used young people for political violence.
