Malawians have taken up in various social media platforms to express fear that President Lazarus Chakwera’s famous Sunday speech is a sign of daggers drawn with State Vice President Saulos Chilima.
In a hard hitting speech, Chakwera reminded the cabinet ministers swearing in ceremony of cabinet ministers in Lilongwe that he was the boss because he was the one who had hired them for the job and they should report to no one else.
Chakwera and Chilima side by side till 2025??
He said political party leaders in the Tonse Alliance, including from the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), UTM or People’s Party were not the ministers’ bosses and urged them to report to him directly.
The outbursts came just days after Chakwera stripped Chilima of his economic development ministerial position in a cabinet reshuffle and only returned to him a non consequential public reforms ministerial position.
Writing on his face book wall, social media activists Idriss Ali Nassah said the speech was an indication that the marriage of convenience between Chakwera and Chilima on one hand and MCP and UTM on the other was over.
He says the marriage could not last long because the two parties have different ideologies and philosophies and cohabited with the sole aim of removing former president Peter Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party from power.
Some members of UTM are posting in social media platforms urging Chilima to immediately pull out of the Tonse Alliance.
Among others, the President reminded the ministers that he was the appointing authority and that he expects them to report to him directly and not to any leader of any political party which is part of the Tonse administration.
Some political commentators say problems between Chakwera and Chilima are stemming from the failure by the two leaders to disclose details of the agreement they signed ahead of the June 23, 2020 fresh presidential election.
Political Analyst George Phiri has told the Tonse alliance leaders to come out clearly on the status of the alliance.
But State House Director of Communications Sean Kampondeni said people were entitled to have their opinion on what the president said.
