APM, Chilima meet in public after 5 years

Vice President Saulos Chilima and former president, Peter Mutharika, are appearing together in public for the first time at least five years after their fall out.

The two and several other dignitaries are in attendance at former finance minister and opposition DPP vice president Goodall Gondwe’s funeral at Kayiwonanga village in Mzimba district today.

Chilima, who also served as vice president during the Democratic Progressive Party administration, broke ranks with Mutharika in 2018 when he started a political movement that led to the birth of his UTM party.

In 2019, the two challenged each other in the presidential race before Chilima teamed up with Malawi Congress Party’s Lazarus Chakwera to challenge the election’s result that had declared Mutharika as winner.

In the subsequent court-sanctioned fresh presidential election in July 2020, Chilima earned his return ticked to the vice presidency after partnering with Chakwera who became President.

Earlier this year, Mutharika told patrons to a DPP fundraising dinner that the party lost the fresh election because Chilima decided to team up with Chakwera.

Meanwhile, Malawians are watching closely to see what will transpire at Gondwe’s funeral between the two political figures as well as their sympathisers.