JB, Chakwera hail Mia as statesman for paving way to MCP-UTM alliance

Former president Joyce Banda and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader Lazarus Chakwera on Thursday paid tribute to Sidik Mia, MCP’s deputy president for displaying statesmanship of such levels which this country has never witnessed for decades when  he sacrificed from being Chakwera’s runningmate  paving way for alliance as Malawi comes first.

The remarks were made during the signing ceremony where Mia was attendance at Kamuzu Institute for Sports in the capital Lilongwe.

“Mia has shown that he loves this country and that he is concerned with the welfare of Malawians above everything,” said Banda who has a special team work skills of publicly recognizing those she closely work with—even if they are of the lowest rankinging.

Taking his turn, Chakwera, who is believed will be the candidate to lead the alliance in the forthcoming fresh election ,also paused to pay tribute to Mia.

“If there is one person I need to doff my hat for displaying high levels of patriotism, then it is the MCP deputy President Sidik Mia,” said Chakwera.

Mia, a wealthy businessman, whom it is believed pumped billions of money to resuscitate the cash-strapped MCP to make it forcefully compete during the botched 2019 elections, where he was running-mate himself, publicly endorsed the MCP-UTM alliance thereby putting on hold his ambition to be the country’s second in command.

Said Mia in a radio interview endorsing the alliance about two weeks ago:“I believe that there is strength in unity. I have given my full blessings to the ongoing alliance talks for a grand opposition alliance. This is time to save and serve Malawi.

“In the impending fresh election, I am ready to sacrifice my running-mate position if that is what it will take to save our country. Malawi, our dearest country, is bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions.”

The MCP-UTM alliance has  also been endorsed by Livingstonia Synod of the CCAP.