State Vice President Dr. Saulos Chilima who is also UTM Party leader is considering the offer by Malawu Congress Party (MCP) presidential hopeful Lazrus Chakwera to partner him as his runningmate in the forthcoming fresh presidential elections.
Chilima and Chakwera—the duo that secured the landmark judgement by the five-judge panel of the High Court of Malawi sitting as the Constitutional Court that nullified the May 21 2019 presidential election on February 3 2020— have been having discussions on the MCP-UTM alliance.
In the run-up to the annulled presidential election, Chakwera partnered former president Joyce Banda and her People’s Party (PP) as well as the country’s former vice-president Khumbo Kachali and his Freedom Party. The partnership between MCP and the two is still intact.
MCP has said it will take the presidency because of its numerical strength in Parliament (55 legislators against UTM’s measly four) to claim that it is bigger than UTM and a Head of State should have numbers in parliament to legislate government business.
Chilima is yet to confirm is he is to settle for number two in an MCP-UTM alliance as he is already vice-president and has been one for five years—a position that comes with a life-long pension.
He is short of getting the most prized position of Presidency, which he has been making it openly.
Mzuzu-based political commentator Emily Mkamanga hoped that, if formed, the MCP-UTM alliance would be different from previous partnerships, saying it would be much stronger to attain its aspirations.
Meanwhile, Chilima is scheduled to hold a public rally at Njamba Freedom Park in Blantyre this coming Sunday.
The rally will come barely a week after joint rally of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the United Democratic front (UDF) at the same venue.
The constitutional Court on February 3, 2020 nullified the May 21, 2019 Presidential polls and called for fresh elections within a period of 150 days.
The move has seen various political parties moving around the country wooing voters.
