We have heard your cries, Michael Usi assures people of Ndirande 

UTM Vice President who is also Minister of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife in the Tonse Alliance government, Michael Usi,  has assured the people of Ndirande that government is aware of the problems that they are facing and that it is in the process of fixing them.

The minister said this on Sunday, September 4, 2022 when he addressed a UTM political rally at Nyambadwe Primary School ground in Malabada, Ndirande. This is the first public rally that UTM has conducted since the 2020 presidential re-run election, which elected the Tonse Alliance government led by MCP’s Lazarus Chakwera as President and Saulos Chilima of UTM as Vice  President.

Usi said he knows that the blows (referring to the many criticisms of the Tonse Alliance Government from previous speakers at the rally) are directed at him and Patricia Kaliati, who is also Minister of Gender and Children Welfare in the Tonse Alliance government. He added that he has taken the criticisms in his stride as an ‘elder’ and assured the people that government is not sleeping on the problems and that they will be fixed soon.

“I know that things are not alright on the ground just as many speakers here have said. You must know, however, that everything happens for a reason and there is a reason why things have turned out this way. There are things that we did right and things that we did not do right as Tonse Alliance but be assured that we are determined to fix and purge out all  those that are sabotaging the system,” Said Usi

He gave an example that on August 31, 2022, he was made aware that there are certain people at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services who are tampering with the network causing people seeking services to  be  frustrated. He added that the same is happening with the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom).

“I heard the Minister of Energy [Ibrahim Matola] wept because of such. So, I called him to say he should never cry again. Instead, the one switching off electricity should be the one crying,” he said.

Earlier, UTM Secretary General, Kaliati said UTM is still going strong and that others can only underrate the party at their own peril. She added that some people have said so many things aimed at denigrating the party but she said UTM will not be cowed by such utterances.

“UTM is a new political party on the scene but the recent Afro-barometer  survey has found that it is the third most popular political party in Malawi ahead of political parties that were established a long time ago. Our party can only grow stronger,” said Kaliati.

Among some of the senior party officials that graced the rally were Felix Njawala, Willet Karonga, Norman Nyirenda, party representatives from the region, district and constituency committees as well as some MPs from the southern, eastern and northern regions.