By Kondanani Chilimunthaka
The state vice president and the Tonse alliance runningmate Dr. Saulos Chilima has urged Malawians to make Malawi a nation which will be governed by the law than the personal needs of individuals in positions.
Speaking to thousands of Malawians who gathered at St. Augustine 3 ground in Mangochi, Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima started by saying in the next 16 days Malawians are supposed to go to polls to have the legitimate president of their own choice and reminded Members of Parliament that as they go to Parliament tomorrow they must act with urgency on electoral matters to save the nation from the current problems while serving the need of many Malawians and avoiding the situation of a crisis if 150 days ordered by the courts expires before election is conducted. He then urged Malawians to vote in large numbers for Dr. Lazarus Chakwera as the president of Malawi. With confidence Dr. Chilima told the gathering that Dr. Chakwera is going to be the 6th president of the republic of Malawi from June 23 this year.
He said time has come for Malawi to have leaders not rules who can unite all Malawians, saying if such leaders are put in positions, that will be the beginning of new Malawi . On religion, Dr. Chilima joined other speakers before him in condemning the use of religion as a political milestone ahead of the fresh election. On education Chilima said Tonse alliance will ensure girl child education is promoted to make sure many girls get education to higher levels and complement the developmental agenda of Chakwera -Chilima administration. Dr. Chilima also touched on making Mangochi a large tourism industry and a major lake City, agriculture, trade and industry, need for peace as a nation, issues of democracy and need to protect such democracy which didn’t come on a silver platter in Malawi.
Before Dr. Chilima made his speech, Dr. Usi who is the vice president for UTM encouraged the Tonse supporters to go out and vote on the voting day to prove their unmoved morale to the alliance, saying morale alone doesn’t win election.
Making her remarks the Secretary General for UTM, Hon. Patricia Kaliati who of recent has been using gospel rhythms as her preamble condemned the acts of violence in the Eastern region saying as one region that played a role in the dawn of Multiparty democracy, it is not supposed to be misused in the way it is being currently and urged the police officers to be neutral in executing their duties as they are a government security agency and not party security team, further Kaliati appealed with chiefs not to side political parties but work towards developing their areas. She then encouraged all Tonse alliance leaders in Mangochi to work together towards serving Malawians. Hon. Patricia Kaliati has since urged all Malawians to vote for Dr. Lazarus Chakwera of Tonse alliance.
In the speech made by Hon. Ibrahim Matola, the SG for Peoples Party, it was clear that the use of religion to win political theme is dividing Islamic family further. Lamenting that politicians must avoid using religion as political stamina, Matola said if there is time that Islam had well spread then it was during Kamuzu era. Matola who seemed to have many issues to speak but limited with time urged the people of Mangochi not to be cheated as they have been cheated for long, saying enough is enough the PP’ SG narrated some problems faced by the people and added that their eyes are now open and won’t allow to be used by failed politicians.
As Dr. Chilima was in Mangochi, Tonse Alliance torchbearer Dr. Lazaus Chakwera was on whistle stop tours in Kasungu, while the former head of state Dr. Joyce Banda was in Dedza. Mangochi has over 400,000 registered voters as per 2019 voters roll while Kasungu has over 325,000 registered voters.
