UTM acting president Michael Usi has said that he will not attend the party’s elective conference this coming Sunday, November 17 2024.
Usi was speaking to the Nation Online on his return from Baku, Azerbaijan where he went to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP29).
“Zomwe akufuna kupangazo asiyeni apange (Let them do whatever they want to do),” he said
Earlier on, Usi accused the UTM National Executive Committee (NEC) of being involved in illegal and unconstitutional decisions to the run-up of the convention, which he don’t want to be part of.
“As State Vice President, I cannot be involved in a process that is proceeding with serious violations of the party constitution because doing so would make me complicit and if I am seen as complicit in the violation of a party constitution, how can people trust that I will uphold the Constitution of the Republic?,” said Usi who is also the country’s vice president.
He said some of the violations are change of the party’s constitution without due process, altering the composition of delegates to the national conference and proceeding with the national conference before similar exercises are held at constitutional, district and regional levels where the constitution says delegates to the national conference derive from.
“So, yes, I have not filed my nomination papers because I have no time for unnecessary fights,” he said.
Usi, chosen by Chilima as his vice president and running mate in the nullified 2019 Presidential election, automatically became acting president after Chilima’s death, in accordance with the party’s constitution. He was subsequently appointed Malawi’s vice president by President Lazarus Chakwera.
Usi’s decision left UTM with four presidential aspirants namely; : Kaliati, Newton Kambala, Dalitso Kabambe, and Mathews Mtumbuka.
