UTM leaders in Mangochi who defected to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Wednesday rejoined UTM on Thursday.
In an interview on Thursday, one of the leaders, M’dala Mtuma who is Mangochi North East constituency governor, in a repentant mood regretted their previous stance, saying it was the devil’s work that made them move from UTM to DPP.
“We didn’t know what we were doing. We defected to DPP on Wednesday morning but when we went back to our home to reflect our position we found something amiss,” he revealed
Mtuma said they kept mulling over their decision for hours until they communicated each other later in the day to rescind their action.
“This is the reason we are here today to confess our evil deeds. We did it hastily without putting a “thought” but we knew it was the influence of Satan,” he pointed out, forcing the gatherers to laugh their lungs out.
The converted leader said they weighed the DPP-UDF Alliance manifesto and that of the Tonse Alliance and found out that, the latter’s manifesto is superb because it mentions to slice the price of fertilizer from the current K22,000 to about K4,500.
“Apart from the issue of scrapping off the connection fee by Tonse Alliance, the price of fertilizer is one of the key factors that has made us to make a U-turn because we are farmers who rely on farming for our livelihoods,” he said.
On Thursday, two councillors, Hasani Chikuta and Alli Sumani from Malindi and Mbwazi wards in Mangochi North East and Mangochi Lutende constituencies respectively, also joined UTM.
About 450 people from the constituencies also joined UTM at functions that happened separately at Malindi and Lungwena.
In unison, the two councillors said they have joined UTM because it is the only party which has the potential to turn around the country’s misfortunes.
“We won last year’s election as independent candidates but looking at our political landscape, we have decided to join UTM because it has good policies in-line with our aspirations. Now that it is in Tonse Alliance we would like to urge people to vote for it,” they said.
In his remarks DPP district governor, Salire M’dala disowned the UTM leaders, saying his party never received them but may be they wanted to join DPP for their personal greed which he thinks it has failed.
But in his remarks, UTM presidential campaign team member, Alhajj Beni Kambulire welcomed the people back, saying it was good that they have recollected their mind.
“This is once again a great day to our family because the lost children are back to their nest,” he said while congratulating the other 450 people for making a right decision.
“The coming in of people shows that they have trust in us. We promise to deliver what we are preaching when Tonse Alliance takes over government,” he re-affirmed their commitment.
