State Vice President and UTM Leader Salous Chilima who is Tonse alliance runningmate is this week hitting the rural hitherlands of Nkhotatakota and Salima with more whistle stops popularly known as imbizos to garner support for the alliance and torchbearer Lazarous Chakwera.
Chilima last week held highly patronised imbizos in Ntcheu, Dedza, Lilongwe, Dowa and Ntchisi before holding a rally at Kasungu boma on Saturday and Likuni on Sunday.
This week, Chilima is taking the campaign to Dwangwa,Nkhotakota boma and Salima with whistle stops before main rally at Mtakata on Saturday.
According to a program released by the UTM party, Chilima will hold a total of 24 imbizos in the two lakeshore districts from Thurdsay to Saturday.
Some of the notable places Chilima will stop over are Dwangwa, Luwelezi, Nkhotakota boma, Kaphamtenga, Mvera, Kamuzu road, Senga-Bay and Chipoka.
Chilima challenged during a rally at Kasungu boma on Saturday last week that he is physically fit and has energy to hold not less than 10 imbizos every day.
The imbizos became a famous campaign tool for Chilima last year when he was running as a presidential candidate on UTM ticket, but this time he is using the imbizos to woe support for alliance Presidential candidate Lazarous Chakwera.
Chilima told a rally in Mzuzu a fortnight ago that he has put on hold his presidnetial ambitions to support Dr Lazarous Chakwera as alliance president so that the two join forces to redeem the country.
” My Presidential ambitions are on pause. I have done this to save the country by supporting and standing with Dr Lazarous Chakwera,” he said.
Chilima has however assured UTM supporters that the alliance is for their own good and that the party’s manifesto will be incoporated into the alliance package.
He has cited plans such as one million jobs for the youth, cheap fertilizer at K4,495, K75 billion loan scheme to benefit women and the youth, free water and electricity connection, and monthly honoraria for the elderly as some of the manifesto plans to be incoporated into the alliance.
