A majority of senior UTM Party officials stayed away from the swearing-in of the newly-appointed Vice-President Michael Bizwick Usi at Parliament in Lilongwe yesterday.
The party’s secretary general Patricia Kaliati, publicity secretary Felix Njawala and other heavy weights such as Newton Kambala were conspicuously missing from the function.
But senior party member Noel Masangwi who attended the event, was quoted as saying his colleagues did not turn up because they were busy with Vice-President Saulos Chilima’s post-burial tasks.
Chilima, alongside eight others, died on June 10 in a military plane crash in Chikangawa Forest in Mzimba. He was buried on June 17 at his home village in Nsipe, Ntcheu.
When contacted yesterday on her absence as well asthat of other senior party officials, Kaliati told Weekend Nation to talk to party spokesperson Felix Njawala who, when contacted by WhatsApp, only blue-ticked our inquiry.
In his acceptance speech after taking the oath before Chief Justice Rizine Mzikamanda, Usi admitted that he faces a tough task filling the shoes of Chilima.
He proclaimed that he would work hard to ensure that the Tonse Alliance administration delivers its agenda.
“Even though SKC’s shoes are too big for me to fill, I will work hard to ensure that we deliver the agenda. And, I know that under your leadership, your Excellency [Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera], I will try and succeed,” he said amid applause.
Usi, 55, further said it was Chilima who first believed that he can become the Vice-President, tracing back to the 2019 Tripartite Election build-up when he chose him as his running-mate.
The new Veep also seemed to take a swipe at his potential distractors, asserting that “Ine musandichenjeneke (loosely translated as don’t mislead me), I want to deliver for my country.”
Turning to UTM amid a seeming leadership stand-off following Chilima’s death, Usi, who is the party’s vice-president, said he will build the party “to uphold our shared values to keep alive the dream of Tsogolo Lathu Lowala (the party’s slogan which loosely translates to ‘Our Bright Future’).
The new Vice-President entered Parliament donning a black suit complete with a white shirt and black necktie amid sporadic roars of boma ilo!
“I solemnly swear that I will well and truly perform the functions of the high office of the Vice-President of the Republic of Malawi and that I will preserve and defend the Constitution…” Usi, flanked by his wife Ella, vowed.
Meanwhile, Mzuzu University-based political analyst Chrispin Mphande has urged Usi to be his own man.
“He won’t be like Chilima. He needs to be himself. In fact, his success will depend on how the President will be delegating him since his office operates through delegation from the President,” he said.
On his bid to build the UTM Party, which has since congratulated him on his appointment, Mphande urged Usi not to work in isolation, warning that “it will not be a soft sailing task”.
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