MCP legislators deny joining Chilima movement

Some leading opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) legislators have sprung up swiftly to deny social media reports that they have joined the so-called Chilima movement, saying the reports were the work of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to confuse the main opposition.

Dowa west MP Alexander Kusamba Dzonzi, one of the key MCP legislators on the list circulating in the social media,  said it was not true that him and his colleagues met vice-president Saulos Chilima with a view to joining the Transformation movement.

“This is fake news. This is just an attempt by the DPP to confuse our followers. I am MCP and will never change,” he said.

The list also include Juliana Lunguzi, Joseph Njobvuyalema among others.

Dzonzi said somebody in the DPP just cooked up the matter probably because him and the others mentioned are Catholics.

“The movement is largely linked to the Catholic church since I am Catholic, they think that I am joining the movement but this is not true,” he said.

The Chilima movement has taken the country by storm with both the ruling DPP and the main opposition MCP focusing on the movement.

Chilima is yet to announce on whether he would stand as a presidential candidate or not.

He has since asked Malawians to turn out in large numbers to register to vote in the May 2019 Tripartite Elections as the voter registration exercise has started this week, saying voting is the only weapon people can useto put in place leaders and a government they desire and deserve.

Said Chilima: “Kusintha mtundu wa nkhuku sikusosola nthenga ayi koma kusintha tambala [you do not change the chicken breed by plucking the feathers, but rather by changing the mating cock].”

Former first lady Callista Mutharika—widow of DPP founding president and the incumbent President’s elder brother, Bingu wa Mutharika—sparked the succession debate in April when she said her in-law, 79, should pave the way for the comparatively younger Chilima, 45.