By Chalo Mvula
The chairperson of CFT people power movement in the diaspora Linda Khembo Nwosu has expressed her amazement at the number of Malawians who are showing interest and committing themselves to the movement . CFT which is led by the fearless Timothy Mtambo , who gets the title of Commander in Chief, was only started two months ago but is already having big impact both in Malawi and among Malawians living abroad.
Linda Khembo said her role is to make sure that the movement grows and that the diaspora chapter can play a role in helping see real change in Malawi. “ The past 5 years we have seen the rise of diaspora groups getting involved in Malawi politics . What is of interest is that a lot of these people get involved out of their love for Malawi and after getting frustrated with the way democracy is being undermined in Malawi. Most people in the diaspora are not doing this for positions but out of pure love for their home country”
When asked what role the diaspora will play in the movement, Khembo said, resource mobilisation is on top of the activities. The group also aims to bring together people with various skills to work in areas like policy development, strategy formulation alongside the main movement in Malawi.
She went further to say that the main challenge so far has been to convince people that this movement is not a political party . “Our commander in Chief has made it clear , when he was introducing the movement as well as, in a number of interviews that this movement is not a political party and will never be . So, members of various political parties are free to join us. We have members from MCP, UTM , PP and others not affiliated to any party”
Khembo echoed the sentiments of Mtambo that the movement belongs to Malawians “ Timothy Mtambo has said this movement is not a one person movement , it’s not Mtambo’s, it’s not Linda Khembo’s , but it is for every Malawian who buys into the philosophy of the movement “ The movement will always be there to provide counter checks and balances to whosever is in power.
Khembo also admitted that CFT has endorsed the candidacy of Dr Lazarus Chakwera and Dr Saulos Chilima of Tonse alliance. She said the movement short term goal is to rescue Malawi from the accidental and despotic regime of DPP and Mutharika. “Our commander in Chief has been at the forefront of fighting for Malawi Freedom from his time at HRDC. Malawi has suffered from Non-respect for the Rule of Law and Constitutionalism, Killings of Persons with Albinism, Collapse of the Public Service and Civil Service, Rape perpetrated by the Police, Tribalism & Nepotism, corruption and many more atrocities and enough is enough, we cannot continue like this. Therefore, we are endorsing Tonse alliance as we want to see change in Malawi” said Khembo
So far the diaspora Chapter of CFT has members from United Kingdom, Switzerland , USA , Germany and another sub chapter called Asia Division with its base in Taiwan. Khembo urged all Malawians living in diaspora and interested to be part of the movement to send a message using CFT diaspora official page or to contact any of the current members.