By nyasatimes.
Africa-Press – Malawi. In the aftermath of Vice President Saulos Chilima’s tragic death, opportunists have been hard at work trying to twist history for their own political gain. They want Malawians to believe that Chilima and President Lazarus Chakwera were bitter rivals, and that UTM’s pull-out from the Tonse Alliance was an inevitable outcome of Chilima’s frustration. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Chilima’s Mission Was Reform, Not Division
From the day Tonse Alliance was formed, Chilima’s energy was never about splitting or weakening it—it was about making it work for Malawians.
He believed Tonse had the right ingredients: a unity of purpose, a shared promise of transformation, and a mandate from Malawians who had overwhelmingly rejected DPP’s impunity in 2020. For Chilima, the focus was not on personalities but on delivering reforms:
The Public Sector Reforms Programme which he personally championed, pushing ministries, parastatals, and councils to embrace efficiency and accountability.
The 1 Million Jobs Promise, which he repeatedly defended as a symbol of Tonse’s seriousness about youth empowerment.
The push for digitalisation of government services, reducing bottlenecks and corruption.
These were not the ideas of a man looking to walk away. They were the ideas of a man determined to make Tonse succeed.
The Resistance from “Political Rejects”
But Chilima’s principled leadership met stiff resistance from within. A small clique of figures within UTM—Patricia Kaliati, Newton Kambala, and others—were less interested in Tonse’s success and more invested in their own careers. They saw Tonse as a cash cow: an opportunity for positions, tenders, and privileges.
When Chilima resisted this transactional mindset, they turned against him. For them, his integrity was a problem. They complained that he was “too soft” with Chakwera, when in reality, Chilima was simply refusing to burn bridges that Malawians had built with their votes.
This explains why UTM never left Tonse while Chilima was alive. He stood firm. He knew Malawians did not vote for Tonse to watch it collapse over greed.
After His Death: Greed Took Over
The tragedy is that, after Chilima’s passing, these same individuals wasted no time in hijacking UTM and pulling it out of Tonse.
The move was never about principles. It was about opportunity. Without Chilima’s restraining hand, they found the perfect moment to reposition themselves—selling UTM’s soul to the highest bidder. Their choice of Dalitso Kabambe, a former Reserve Bank governor who personifies elite capture, speaks volumes. Kabambe was never UTM. He was never Tonse. He represents the very DPP-style politics Chilima risked his career to fight against in 2020.
This betrayal is proof enough: UTM’s pull-out was not Chilima’s decision, but a posthumous hijack by opportunists.
Chilima and Chakwera: More in Common Than Apart
Contrary to the noise, Chilima and Chakwera were never enemies. They had differences—yes—but they were differences of method, not mission.
Chakwera sought to build long-term institutional stability; Chilima pushed for bold, fast-paced reforms. But at their core, they were aligned. Both men valued servant leadership. Both spoke against corruption. Both wanted Tonse to be the foundation of a new Malawi where politics served the people.
Take Chilima’s famous fight against corruption in the fertiliser deal. Critics tried to spin it as evidence of division with Chakwera. Yet in truth, both men were fighting from different angles to rid the system of rot. One was tackling the issue from an executive and diplomatic perspective, the other from a reformist and accountability perspective. That is not division—that is complementarity.
History Must Record the Truth
Malawians must resist the revisionist narrative. Chilima was not plotting an exit from Tonse. He was fighting to clean it up, to strengthen it, to make it work. The pull-out of UTM was engineered by those he once restrained—the greedy few who saw his death as a business opportunity.
The truth is this: Chilima and Chakwera’s bond was never broken. They were partners in a joint project to deliver Malawians from the politics of greed. If he were alive today, Tonse would still be intact—not because it was flawless, but because Chilima had the courage to keep it together.
And history, not propaganda, will judge rightly.
Source: Malawi Nyasa Times
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