Former UTM publicist Frank Mwenifumbo has said senior members of his party are tribalists that caused him emotional stress.
Mwenifumbo was responding to activist-cum-politician Joshua Chisa Mbele who questioned his timing of departure from the UTM which he claimed coincided with Chilimas arrest.
Chisa Mbele claimed further that Mwenifumbos appointment as Board Chairperson for the Northern Region Water Board created bad political optics for President Lazarus Chakwera.
Mwenifumbo said Chisa Mbeles questions are bordering on his integrity as a politician, stating that the appointment was not his first in public service.
He said whilst he held UTM President Saulos Chilima in high esteem, he had told him the real reasons he stepped aside from the UTM.
“I shared with him all the ridicule and the emotional suffering I endured during my membership from my fellow members, whom , I felt were compatriots. The worst was when I and the people of the North were tribally profiled by very few senior individuals in the Party who felt threatened by my presence in UTM ,” charged Mwenifumbo destroying a well curved image the UTM has built as only nationalist party.
Both ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the former ruling party Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) thrive on tribalism with party leadership and strategic positions being given to their leaders tribesmen.
“If I explain this to the public especially to those who live in the Northern part of Malawi , who have over the years borne and endured the scars of segregation and deprivation , then I doubt if any single voter out there will have the appetite to vote for them in 2025,” warned Mwenifumbo.
He added, ” For the love of chilima who has already gone through a lot from the days of the DPP , todate, I have chosen to fathom my grievances . Chilimas enemies are not from outside as you assert but from within . He is completely captured by them , only time will tell .”
Mwenifumbo who has been a member of the Alliance for Democracy, DPP, Peoples Party and UTM said Chisa Mbeles accusations were misplaced.
“This is not my first public appointment , especially in the statutory corporation . In 2010 The Bingu administration did appoint me as Board Chair of the same NRWB . The appointment was announced both on print and electronic media platforms . I turned down the appointment .
“The same administration offered me a very strategic diplomatic post and I turned it down too . I turned down these too offers because one influential businessman in the DPP fold , labelled me as “mtumbuka” . I bitterly complained about this to late President Bingu wa Mutharika,” charged Mwenifumbo adding that anyone can verify with Goodall Gondwe former finance Minister and Bright Msaka former Chief Secretary.
He said he has never been excited with public appointments that his departure from UTM had nothing to do with his appointment. He said left the UTM voluntarily.
Mwenifumbo said such twisting of facts would make him come back into politics to clear his legacy. Chisa Mbele said he accepts Mwenifumbos explanation.
UTMs new spokesperson Felix Njawala is yet tk respond to the allegations made by his predecessor.
