{"id":64658,"date":"2024-11-04T11:57:18","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T11:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2"},"modified":"2024-11-04T12:26:40","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T12:26:40","slug":"utm-strife-intensifies-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2","title":{"rendered":"UTM strife intensifies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>AWAIT CONVENTION\u2014UTM members<\/b>Trouble continues brewing in UTM, with the latest development being the party\u2019s leader, Michael Usi, threatening not to endorse the elective convention just two weeks before delegates are expected to convene to elect new leaders.<\/p>\n

Recently, there have been instances of some top party officials, including those vying for leadership, expressing strong opinions on who can genuinely be the ideal candidate for the party.<\/p>\n

Before Usi issued his letter, the party held a national executive committee (Nec) meeting, despite the party president having spoken against the event on the grounds that Secretary-General Patricia Kaliati was still in police custody at that time.<\/p>\n

In a video clip that has gone viral on social media, UTM Director of Women, Anne Makuta, is seen addressing some party leaders, informing them that the party belongs to Newton Kambala and that no outsiders should come and claim it.<\/p>\n

Makuta has confirmed that the sentiments expressed in the video clip are hers.<\/p>\n

Kambala is one of the party officials seeking to claim leadership at the convention slated for this month.<\/p>\n

Makuta says one of the aspiring candidates, who hails from Thyolo, has joined the party with ill intentions.<\/p>\n

While she does not name the aspirant, our assessment of those aspiring to lead the party suggests that former Reserve Bank of Malawi governor Dalitso Kabambe fits the description provided by Makuta.<\/p>\n

She insists that Kambala is the rightful owner of UTM and that handing the party over to \u201cstrangers\u201d would be detrimental to its future.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the [Democratic Progressive Party] time, the late Saulos Chilima, who was State vice president at that time, was heavily victimised. One of the people who victimised him was this candidate from Thyolo.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was once Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs… He ordered that a carpet laid out at the airport for Chilima for a foreign trip be removed,\u201d Makuta said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in his letter to Kaliati, Usi expresses concern that preparations for the conference are not in line with the UTM constitution and that the process may be unlawful.<\/p>\n

He has since requested immediate corrections to the processes and has made it clear that he will not endorse or recognise any actions taken thus far due to their \u201cunconstitutional nature\u201d.<\/p>\n

Felix Njawala<\/b>However, UTM spokesperson Felix Njawala said Sunday that he would not comment extensively on the letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsk the president to elaborate further on the allegations,\u201d Njawala said.<\/p>\n

Among his concerns, Usi is unhappy with what he describes as improper Central Committee meetings, which he claims were conducted without following the correct processes or obtaining proper authorisations.<\/p>\n

The UTM president is also dissatisfied with what he has characterised as unauthorised people being added to the list of delegates eligible to vote at the party\u2019s convention, scheduled for November 17 in Mzuzu.<\/p>\n

According to Usi, people who are not officially recognised as national delegates, as stipulated in Article 7 of the UTM constitution, have been included in the delegate list, which could compromise the integrity of the conference.<\/p>\n

He further argues that a team that has purportedly been preparing for and will conduct the convention has not been provided with terms of reference, letters of engagement or appeared before the Nec as requested in an email sent to the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have also noted that they have started working without all these critical things being done. You do understand that UTM the convention.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Times Television\u2019s Brian Banda on Saturday, Njawala declined to confirm whether Usi was involved in the decisions regarding the nomination fees, saying \u201cthese are internal matters\u201d.<\/p>\n

He further claimed that Usi is the one chairing the party\u2019s meetings, despite Usi insisting that he is not involved in several decisions made by the party.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, political and governance analysts have noted that the disagreements within UTM might affect followers in terms of who should be their next leader post-Chilima.<\/p>\n

George Phiri has urged the party\u2019s officials to unite and resolve their differences \u201cin a sincere manner\u201d, saying there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in political culture, only permanent interests.<\/p>\n

On his part, governance expert Henry Chingayipe observed a rift between Usi and members of the UTM politburo and called for a unified purpose to prevail in the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is crucial that both sides view the forthcoming convention as a platform to settle differences and yield a leadership team that can pull in one direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps this will become clear at their policy conference, which is set to take place before the elections,\u201d Chingayipe said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Malawi Follow Africa-Press<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. AWAIT CONVENTION\u2014UTM membersTrouble continues brewing in UTM, with the latest development being the party\u2019s leader, Michael Usi, threatening not to endorse the elective convention just two weeks before delegates are expected to convene to elect new leaders. Recently, there have been instances of some top party officials, including those vying for leadership, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":64657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-64658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-malawi"],"yoast_head":"\nUTM strife intensifies - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"AWAIT CONVENTION\u2014UTM membersTrouble continues brewing in UTM, with the latest development being the party\u2019s leade ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UTM strife intensifies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AWAIT CONVENTION\u2014UTM membersTrouble continues brewing in UTM, with the latest development being the party\u2019s leade ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-04T11:57:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-04T12:26:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/11\/sm_1730710583.776126.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"589\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UTM strife intensifies\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-04T11:57:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-04T12:26:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2\"},\"wordCount\":775,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/11\/sm_1730710583.776126.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Malawi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2\",\"name\":\"UTM strife intensifies - Malawi\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/11\/sm_1730710583.776126.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-04T11:57:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-04T12:26:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"AWAIT CONVENTION\u2014UTM membersTrouble continues brewing in UTM, with the latest development being the party\u2019s leade ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/11\/sm_1730710583.776126.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/11\/sm_1730710583.776126.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":589,\"caption\":\"UTM strife intensifies\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UTM strife intensifies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/\",\"name\":\"Malawi\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UTM strife intensifies - Malawi","description":"AWAIT CONVENTION\u2014UTM membersTrouble continues brewing in UTM, with the latest development being the party\u2019s leade ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UTM strife intensifies","og_description":"AWAIT CONVENTION\u2014UTM membersTrouble continues brewing in UTM, with the latest development being the party\u2019s leade ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2","og_site_name":"Malawi","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-11-04T11:57:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-11-04T12:26:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":589,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/11\/sm_1730710583.776126.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"UTM strife intensifies","datePublished":"2024-11-04T11:57:18+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-04T12:26:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2"},"wordCount":775,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/11\/sm_1730710583.776126.jpg","keywords":["Malawi"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2","name":"UTM strife intensifies - Malawi","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/11\/sm_1730710583.776126.jpg","datePublished":"2024-11-04T11:57:18+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-04T12:26:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"AWAIT CONVENTION\u2014UTM membersTrouble continues brewing in UTM, with the latest development being the party\u2019s leade ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/11\/sm_1730710583.776126.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/11\/sm_1730710583.776126.jpg","width":720,"height":589,"caption":"UTM strife intensifies"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/utm-strife-intensifies-2#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UTM strife intensifies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/","name":"Malawi","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}