![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/joseph-chidanti-malunga.jpg\")
<\/a>Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Southern Region governor, Charles Mchacha, has dragged UTM into the case of political intimidation registered at Luchenza Trading Centre in Thyolo District on Saturday, claiming that its supporters dressed like the governing party\u2019s cadets to tarnish its image.<\/p>\nHowever, UTM has trashed DPP\u2019s accusations.<\/p>\n
The Daily Times <\/em>had asked Mchacha what DPP knows about the conduct of the cadets who blocked the road with stones and vehicles to prevent Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader, Lazarus Chakwera, from holding a whistle-stop rally while in transit to Mulanje Pasani Constituency.<\/p>\n The suspected cadets openly and defiantly said Chakwera could not pass through the area where President Peter Mutharika, who is DPP\u2019s leader, once served as Member of Parliament. The cadets said the area is DPP\u2019s home.<\/p>\n Mchacha condemned the incident, saying the party does not subscribe to any forms of political violence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is important to note that as elections are getting closer, political parties are working without resting to tarnish the image of their opponents and what has happened in Mulanje is nothing other than UTM propaganda\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe understand that Mec has not yet opened campaign period for the forthcoming tripartite elections. However, the DPP leadership has not barred any political party from conducting a rally and this is a unique situation\u2026Let me say it here that the UTM supporters dressed in DPP regalia wanted to tarnish the image of DPP. DPP would like to distance itself from what happened in Mulanje,\u201d<\/em> Mchacha said in a statement made available to The Daily Times. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n UTM leader and State Vice-President Saulos Chilima broke away from DPP last year to form the opposition party.<\/p>\n However, UTM spokesperson, Joseph Chidanti-Malunga, dismissed DPP\u2019s accusations.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone knows that there are people who say \u2018this area is a no-go-zone\u2019 and, fortunately, people know that it is only DPP that can do that. To say it is UTM is unfortunate. They must not shift the blame. There is nothing like a no-go zone. An election is a competition of ideas. Let people campaign freely,\u201d<\/em> Chidanti-Malunga said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Speaking after the incident at Milonga Community Day Secondary School Ground in Mulanje after circumventing the cadets\u2019 roadblock, Chakwera said he would not be intimidated by anyone on his campaign trail.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not afraid and will not be intimidated by anyone. I came here confidently because this is my home. Malawi is my home and nobody can draw boundaries for me. I was smiling at everyone even those wearing blue T-shirts and they smiled back,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Chakwera condemned the death in police custody of the key suspect in the murder of a 14-year-boy with albinism Goodson Makanjira, Lule Buleya.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone was close to revealing where people take body parts of people with albinism to. Now this is bad,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Chakwera promised a five-star hotel and an airport in Mulanje as a way of revamping the tourism sector in the district.<\/p>\n He also pledged to find a lasting solution of age-old land woes in Mulanje, revamping agriculture and finding ready markets for farm produce.<\/p>\n Speaking earlier, Chakwera\u2019s running mate, Sidik Mia, urged people in Mulanje to vote irrespective of their tribes, saying everyone in the country, including those in Mulanje, faces similar problems such as hunger and poverty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Jameson Chauluka: Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Southern Region governor, Charles Mchacha, has dragged UTM into the case of political intimidation registered at Luchenza Trading Centre in Thyolo District on Saturday, claiming that its supporters dressed like the governing party\u2019s cadets to tarnish its image. However, UTM has trashed DPP\u2019s accusations. The Daily Times had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":74872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74873,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74870\/revisions\/74873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}