Zosiyilana! Exit Chilima, enters Chimulirenji as Malawi vice president

True to his words that leadership is like a relay race, outgoing vice president Saulos Chilima will be leaving the post of the country’s second in command to his Ntcheu home boy Everton Chimulirenji, who has been elected together with President Peter Mutharika as his running mate of  the May 21 Tripartite Elections.

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) on Monday afternoon declared President Mutharika winner of the presidential election with 38.57% of votes,, narrowly securing another five-year term as leader of the developing southern African nation after delays over suspected tampering.

Lazarus Chakwera of the opposition Malawi Congress Party  (MCP) scored 35.41% of the votes, while Chilima who contested for presidency under his new UTM Party polled 20.24%, MEC chairperson Jane Ansah said at a news conference in Blantyre.

“By the powers vested in me by the Section 80(2) of the Constitution as read with Section 96(5) of the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act, I, Justice Dr Jane Mayemu Ansah, SC (Senior Counsel), JA (Justice of Appeal), hereby declare candidate Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika as the President Elect of Malawi and Everton Herbert Chimulirenji as vice-president Elect of Malawi following the 21st May 2019 presidential election,” said Ansah.

“On behalf of the entire Commission, I wish to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the President Elect and his vice,” she added.

Chimulirenji , 56, was a suprise running mate to Mutharika as he was picked  from the previous Cabinet where he served as Minister of Civic Education, Culture and Community Development.

He  first served as deputy minister for Defence.

Having served as an MP under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for two consecutive terms now, Chimulirenji in the elections, lost as a member of Parliament for Ntcheu North East Constituency.

President Mutharika described Chimulirenji as someone loyal to the party and that he “knows the difference between a vice-president and a deputy president.”

Chimulirenji studied business administration and once worked with the then Ministry of Works. He was running a construction company when he joined newly formed DPP in 2005 under the stewardship of former president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika.

And according to State House press secretary Mgeme Kalirani, President Mutharika’s choice of Chimulirenji as State vice –president is a decision made in favour of maturity, profound character, political experience and the continued solidity of the DPP.

Chimulirenji is also the party’s deputy national director of elections, a position he was elected to at the party’s national convention in 2018.