Chilima gets on his knees to thank God, his supporters

In what can be described as yet another first for Malawi, Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima, who is UTM’s Presidential Candidate in the 2019 tripartite elections, on Saturday literally got on his knees to thank God for his blessings as well as all Malawians and his supporters for their support.

Chilima, who is also the country’s current Vice President, told the crowd of thousands of people that gathered at Likuni Boys Secondary School Ground in Lilongwe, that the story of UTM meteoric rose from nowhere to commanding millions of supporters within 10 months of its formation is unprecedented in the history of the country.

“I thank God for all this and I am equally grateful to you, UTM supporters, for the courage and strength you have given me through this awesome journey and, for this, allow me to express my gratitude to you the Malawian way,” said Chilima before proceeding to get on his knees and clasp his hands in a gesture of reverence as the crowd went into an ecstatic rupture.

An emotional Chilima then stood up and went on to bid his farewell to the crowd:

“Thank you Likuni! Thank you Lilongwe, Thank you Malawi! Thank you!” He shouted waving both hands.

Earlier Chilima told the gathering that once elected into office, his government would reduce the price of fertilizer from K22,500.00 to K4,495.00 per 50kg bag.

Oozing with confidence, Chilima started his speech by telling the crowd that his party is destined to rule come May 21, because of its exceptional vision.

“Everything we do is new to this country from

Magnificent public stages to live broadcasts to even the very things we are saying are possible for Malawians to have a happy life.

But we are always two months ahead of time because whenever we announce something they say it’s not possible and then two months later they start talking about the same things.

“They said our promise to provide 1 Million jobs in 12 months was impossible but now they are all fighting over how many millions of jobs they can provide.

“They said our promise to pay K15,000 monthly pension to senior citizens was impossible then they went ahead and adopted it.

“They say our promise for an annual duty free week is imposs.ible but soon they will be agreeing.

“And today they will say our fertilizer price is impossible but that is not a problem because we are the ones who will implement it,” he said.

Chilima went on to assure the crowd of a UTM victory next Tuesday saying everything that has been happening since the party was formed has been pointing towards triumph for the party.

“It is no coincidence that the party was launched on 21st July, was registered on 21st September and elections will be held on 21st of May.

“And as if this is not proof enough, the elections will be held on the second (working) day of the week, my name is second on the ballot and, as you know I am second in-command of the country,” said Chilima to the cheering crowd.

The UTM story has been an adventurous one since the party was formed on 21st July 2018 after Chilima left ruling party. Among other things, the party faced obstacles in its attempt to get registered and it took the intervention of the courts for the party to be issued with a certificate.

The party also faced challenges conducting public meetings in strongholds of other political parties which saw a number of its initial rallies being marred by violence.

Several people, including women, were attacked and, at least three vehicles, were burned in Mangochi, reported stronghold of the United Democratic Front (UDF).

Since the party was launched in July, Chilima has conducted meetings almost every week with the schedule escalating to daily meetings with several stops per day, since the campaign period was opened some two months ago. By the close of the campaign period, he has having visited every corner of the country including all 193 constituents in just under 10 months with some areas such as Mangochi and most districts in the North having been visited multiple times.

Source: Mana