Cracks in UTM as 4 district governors quit party for DPP

At least four central region district governors for UTM  have dumped the party amid disagreements over elections last month which ushered in a new regional governor and his team.

The old team is refusing to work with the new regional team now headed by Samson Mithenga.

The old regional team was led by Daniel Mlomo.

In interview, Mithenga confirmed that four district governors have quit the party.

“It is only four regional governors which means we have 24 district governors intact. Their leaving of the party has no impact on UTM,” said Mithenga.

He said the four left the party without any following.

The four district governors are said to have now joined the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and their structures got officially welcomed into the DPP on Friday.

This comes at a time when people are questioning the future of the  Malawi Congress Party MCP/UTM alliance.

First, the defection weakens UTM in the region which contributed significantly to party leader Saulos Chilima’s vote tally in the elections last year.

Secondly, directly related to this is the fact that it takes away large numbers of voters that would have voted for the alliance candidate in the fresh elections in July.

But most importantly, it is yet another evidence of disapproval of the alliance between the two parties.

Analysts have said an alliance between MCP and UTM is untenable as they are evidently ideologically different from each other.

Besides MCP presidential hopeful  Lazarus Chakwera and Chilima and their respective followers have a strong mistrust against each other.

The defecting  governors  said  they had dumped UTM because they dreaded the prospect of allying themselves with MCP,  a party which committed untold atrocities in its 31-year rule.

They said they did not want to be part of the instrument which killed thousands of Malawians and which could turn on them should the alliance win the election with Chakwera as its leader.

The defection of the governors, chair ladies and youth directors is a telling signal to UTM that it risks going into extinction faster than could be imagined should it continue to force itself into an alliance with MCP.