Former Speaker Henry Chimunthu Banda who is also legislator for Nkhotakota North has endorsed Tonse Alliance presidential candidate Lazarus Chakwera ahead of the June 23 presidential elections.
Speaking in an interview monitored on Zodiak on Thursday, Chimunthu also announced that he has left the ruling President Peter Mutharika led Democratic Progressive (DPP).
He said the decision to endorse the Tonse Alliance emanates from a need to change things for the better in the 2020 fresh presidential elections.
“My constituents and I think time has come to do things a little bit differently,” said Chimunthu.
On his decision to leave the DPP, Chimunthu said his presence in the party was not being appreciated.
“We concluded that it is high time we accepted that we are not appreciated,” he said.
Chimunthu’s decision to endorse the Tonse Alliance come weeks after he rejected a ministerial position in the Mutharika administration.
Chimunthu was DPP Secretary General as well as a cabinet during the Bingu wa Mutharika administration.
Ahead of the 2014 elections, he contested for position of party president but lost to Peter Mutharika who went on to win the 2014 presidential elections.
Chimunthu then took a five year break from politics before returning as a legislator after the 2019 elections.
