Chimulirenji says ‘Chilima has pulled me down from VP’

Minister of Disaster Management Affairs Everton Chimulirenji has hit back at the country’s estranged vice-president Saulos Chilima, saying he is no longer the second-in-command because of the UTM president.

Chimulirenji said this on Thursday in Dedza when he accompanied President Peter Mutharika’s running mate in the Constitutional Court sanctioned fresh presidential election, Atupele Muluzi.

He was responding to Chilima’s earlier remarks in which he said that Chimulirenji is the victim of Mutharika’s bad decision for his failure to pick him as running mate in the forthcoming election.

“I am a victim of Chilima’s decision to go to court, this is why I am no longer the vice president,” he said.

Chimulirenji was Mutharika’s running mate in the 2019 presidential elections and served as the country’s Vice-president before   the Constitutional Court cut short his tenure when it ordered fresh elections.

He accused Chilima of contributing to his downfall from being vice president.

Chimulirenji said he is not bitter with either Mutharika or Muluzi on the issue of running mate, saying political dynamics made it necessary that Mutharika appoints Muluzi as running mate.

He said Muluzi was the right person for the position and was upbeat that President Mutharika would secure a resounding victory in the elections.

On his choice of 41-year-old Atupele as his running mate, Mutharika said he settled for him because “he is a person I can work with to unite and develop this country. He understands that leadership comes with responsibility”.