A senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) official Ken Msonda and Centre for Mindset Change (CMC) Executive Director Philip Kamangirah have dared Vice President Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima to stop harbouring ambitions of becoming president of the country in 2025.
The two argued that with his four Members of Parliament, the UTM president has a long way to go to put up a convincing campaign to win elections.
Msonda and Kamangira, speaking separately in reaction to the statement Chilima made on Friday, challenged that the Vice President cannot convince the electorate because "Malawians cannot trust him anymore."
The DPP National Governing Council (NGC) member Msonda challenged that Chilima cannot make it to presidency.
Msonda, who is also Executive Director for Independent Political and Good Governance Analysts Think Tank (IPSATT) - wondered how this could be practical when his UTM Party secured only four seats in parliament in the 2019 tripartite elections.
"It's not possible to be a head of state with only four Members of Parliament in the August House; only Jesus Christ can achieve that! Wining state presidency is not a - one - man - show; you need a political party with strong structures on the ground. The richest controversial billionaire in US Donald Trump had to look for a party with strong structures to win US presidency! UTM needs to seriously work on its party structures on the ground," he advised.
Kamangira, on the other hand argued that the Vice President must stop taking Malawians for granted.
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"His pretended counterfeit political features are disgraceful, ignominious and ill-famed to the citizenry," reacted Kamangira.
He added: "We were preordained to believe that the press briefing would be on matters of national importance as said earlier, to the contrary, the Vice President blatantly attested to the nation that he is a liar.
"In his statement the Vice President claimed that in the Alliance Partners Agreement, all things shall be done in consultation with the partners of the alliance. However, it is on record that all Alliance Partners had a meeting at State House last week and one is compelled to ask as to whether the issues he raised during the Press Briefing were agreed upon or not."
Kamangirah said it was clear that the issues Chilima brought to the fore were never discussed at the meeting and this "undoubtedly tells that the Vice President is not an honest man."
He accused the Vice President of running away from responsibilities by focusing on 2025 elections instead of telling Malawians the truth about his alleged involvement in corruption deals.
"This is taking Malawians for granted and a serious demonstration of naked leadership that is associated with grave pretended political counterfeit. It is sad to mention that instead of focusing on issues that Malawians are going through, he instead pinpointed much on the 2025 elections which would be more advantageous to his personal interests," said Kamangira.
He added: "This is hypocrisy of the highest order revealed by the Vice President. It is further shocking to note that the Vice President could for once imagine that the Alliance Agreement can rule superlative over the Constitution of Malawi."
