A grouping of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) has asked Vice President Saulos Chilima to resign saying he is undermining the President Peter Mutharika administration by holding meetings in the United Kingdom.
The grouping, Joint Civil Society Platform on Governance, held a press briefing on Thursday in Lilongwe where it made the demands. It also issued a press statement signed by Chairperson Peter Mumba.
According to the grouping, the meetings Chilima is holding in the United Kingdom – where he currently is for a holiday and private engagements– are illegal since they were not authorized by Mutharika.
“No any country allows its officials to speak at international platforms about policy issues without authorization.
“The meetings that Chilima had with UK MPs including Lord Jack McConnell is ground enough for a cabinet minister to resign,” said the CSOs in a statement.
The CSOs added that Chilima’s actions over the past four months are characteristic of a person who is a symbol of lawlessness.
They noted that since forming his United Transformation Movement (UTM), Chilima has spent K2.5 billion on T-shirts without disclosing the source of funds yet he has been accusing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government of corruption.
Chilima has been claiming that there is rampant corruption in government and during rallies he has been promising to end corruption if voted into power next year.
However, the CSOs said if Chilima was morally upright he would not have been criticizing the administration which he is part of and he would not have been clinging to his position.
“It is only people who have no principles and moral justification that would cling on the same government they accuse of being corrupt, draw salaries without work and go about town with people that are either corrupt or answering corruption cases in court,” the organisations said.
In the statement, the CSOs accused Chilima of planning to rig the 2019 elections using a frequency jamming machine bought in South Africa.
They claimed that Chilima’s UK trip is a ploy to “meet a private Israel firm to help him destabilize the elections system in Malawi.”
“Ironically, Chilima challenges that he cannot be defeated when it comes to issues of rigging,” the statement says.
Everybody knows that you have been given something to emberass this Gentleman but remember that anthu a ku malawi pano akuona. Sakugona ngati kale asaaaa inu ingodyani ndalamazo basi Shiiit
Chilima is just very free not to resign..it is a private visit
He is on holiday and he is exercising his right to freedom of expression.. I don’t think any Malawian needs permission from the president to hold a meeting overseas..if the state didn’t sponsor it then he isn’t accountable to the for sident on that trio..by virtual of being the current president of the nation he is even free to act in that capacity…similar the president goes on holiday and can mix business with work..zisawawe.does the vice need permission to speak to Malawians or to speak to the English…will the president tell him not to speak yto Malawian or the English when he is in england..who should be speaking to..
kkkkkkkkkk you foolish CSO which organisation are standing for , OR YOU ARE A DPP URGENT, KKKKKKKKK I THOUGHT YOU HAVE BEEN BOSSING THAT NDIZAWANYENYANYENYA ONSE WHY YOU LOOK WORRIED NOW, BETWWEN DPP AND CHILIMA WHO CAN RIG THE VOTES HAHAHAHA CHULE WADABWA M’MAZI MULI MWAKE BWANJI TIYENI NAZONI SIMUKANZIONA MGATI NDINU MADOLO , CHILIMA 2019 BOMA NDE NKHALAMBA YANUYOTU IZAKOZEBWA NDI KUBIBIDWA.
Understand he is on Holiday……then the meeting in UK is not an official trip rathar a private one. do we follow you when you are on holiday and decide to spent your holiday in Johansberg thats your private life, we have nothing to do with it. a CSOS musachose chisoso muditso la anzanu kusiya chani inu nde abwino?