President of the newly registered United Transformation Party (UTM) Saulos Klaus Chilima says Karonga will become city if the party wins the 2019 tripartite elections.
Speaking on Sunday during the launch of UTM at Karonga community ground after a whistle stop tour that saw him addressing people at Songwe, Kiwe, Mwenitete and Lusako, Chilima said the geographical position of the district makes it unique to qualify for the status of a city.
“The district lies on the shore of Lake Malawi and borders with Tanzania, our key trade partner. This is enough qualification for the district to be upgraded to city status.
“We have the airport right here, at Chilumba we have a jetty, we can have our own warehouses to boost trade and come up with structures that can make Karonga a city,” Chilima said.
The UTM leader further assured people of Karonga that once his party takes over government next year, he will put in place mechanisms that will see price of fertilizer going down for every farmer to afford as one way of revamping the agriculture sector.
He, however, said for this to happen he will first of all root out corruption in the system so that every penny should be put to good use to benefit every Malawian, adding that the vice is negatively affecting the social economic growth of the country.
“As l am speaking, there are no drugs in hospitals, no school blocks for our students, no durable structures, our civil servants are receiving salaries late, people cannot afford three meals a day, all these problems are coming in because of corruption which is on the rise in government,” Chilima said amid applause from the audience.
Taking her turn, the party’s interim secretary general Patricia Kaliati, said people of Karonga should vote for Saulos Chilima as he is a true son of Malawi.
“Vote for a person who did his education in Malawi, worked in Malawi and also at some point employed his fellow Malawians. He knows your problems better than these other leaders,” Kaliati said.
At the launch, Kaliati paraded aspirants for the 2019 elections and 25 people who have defected from the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), United Democratic Party (UDF) and Peoples Party (PP) to UTM.
Karonga, Kasungu, Salima, Mangochi, and Cape Maclear are fit to become cities because of their geographical locations and importance in the economy of Malawi while Chilumba
(in Karonga), Chitipa, Nkhata-bay, Chintheche, Nkhota-Kota, Mchinji, Ntcheu, Balaka, Nsanje, Mulanje, Mzimba, Liwonde, and Vwaza can become major towns for Industries.