MCP MP Karim brands UTM as ‘DPP number 2’

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) deputy Director of Research Iryas Karim has hit at United Transformation Movement (UTM), saying its leader Saulos Klaus Chilima has no moral grounds to talk ill of government at the moment because movement is a splinter group of  ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Karim, who is Member of Parliament for Chikwawa South, made the remarks at Linga Ground in Chikwawa Mkombezi constituency on Saturday when he supported whistle stop tours made by Madam Abida Mia, wife to MCP Vice-president Sidik Mia.

“The whole leadership in UTM is a rebellion of people from the DPP and share the guilt that Chilima is trying to expose,” Karim said. “They are the same people.”

He also attacked UTM’s campaign that once voted into government it will abolish the quota system on university and college selection process.

“Where was Chilima to come out now and talk about the quota system. He is vice-president and he should have acted on it when he was with the DPP.”

Two senior MCP officials collaborated with Karim, saying the party already made its strong stance on quota system in 2014 and it is still against the quota system.

The officials said whatever Chilima is speaking now are totally lies because he is still in government.

Karim further told the people to be confident because it is only MCP which is geared to win the 2019 tripartite general elections.

He said the reason why people should be confident of MCP’s triumph is that Malawians are tired with DPP’s style of leadership.

The legislator  gave an example of the falling standards of health services in country’s major hospitals, alleging: “Mothers are asked to bring their own basins, razor blades, cotton threads and even candles when they are going for child delivery.

“This is pathetic and MCP shall endevour to end all this in the shortest period possible once elected into Government,” he said.

Karim said MCP is the only party with solid structures and is the only party with a president who has clean hands in Dr. Lazarus Chakwera.

“We have areas branches, strong constituency structures and almost everything including national party headquarters in Lilongwe, regional and district offices countrywide. These other parties briefcase offices.”

He said anyone can do background check but Chakwera is clean.

A survey that the pan-African research network, Afrobarometer, conducted between December 2016 and January 2017 rated MCP presidential candidate highly in terms of respondents’ voting intentions or choices.

Afrobarometer conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions and related issues in African countries and the 2016/2017 survey is the 7th round of surveys since 1999.

The results disseminated in Lilongwe indicate that when asked which presidential candidate they would vote for if the presidential elections were held at the time of the survey, 32 percent picked the MCP candidate.

The ruling DPP presidential candidate Arthur Peter Mutharika scored 26 percent while United Democratic Front (UDF) and People’s Party (PP) candidates moved the minds of 11 percent seven percent of the respondents, respectively.

Eight percent of the respondents said they would not vote and 13 percent did not know or refused to answer.