Former ADRA Malawi Director Named as Running Mate for Presidential Candidate
18 February 2019 | According to Nyasa Times, Michael Usi, the former country director for ADRA Malawi has been named as the running mate for Saulos Chilima, a presidential candidate representing Malawi’s United Transformation Party.
“Congratulations, Dr. Michael B. Usi (former ADRA Malawi Programs Director), for being appointed the official presidential running mate of United Transformation Party in the forthcoming Malawi Tripartite elections 2019. God be with you,” said ADRA Malawi in a message on its website following the news of his selection.
Usi is an actor and a playwright and is known by his nickname Manganya. While still employed by ADRA, Usi frequently made headlines in the country by making statements that were political in nature. He was frequently critical of Malawi’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Government officials, some of which were Adventist themselves, campaigned to have Usi dismissed from his post when he worked for ADRA. They accused him of using his position to do politically-motivated work.
According to the denomination’s Office of Archives, Statistics and Research, the Malawi Union Conference had 530,767 members as of June 30, 2017.
