United Transformation Movement (UTM) Secretary General Patricia Kaliati has come out of her cocoon to defend her presidential bid ahead of the party’s elective conference slated for November 17, 2024.

Since declaring her ambitions to contest for UTM Presidency, there has been calls for Kaliati to rescind her decision and remain on the post of SG considering the fact that there is a lot of competition on the post.

Other went further to claim that Kaliati has no muscle to brash shoulders with Engineer Dr. Mathews Mtumbuka, former Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Governor Dr. Dalitso Kabambe, State Vice President Dr. Michael Usi and former Minister of Energy Newton Kambala who are vying for the Presidential post.

But speaking in an interview with the press Kaliati said most of the people who are pushing for her to remain on the post of SG are her competitors who are afraid of her.

“Those people who are saying that i should remain UTM SG are the ones thinking that am here to protect the party. We have done that since the death of our President. We moved out of the Alliance.

“If i did that when i was a Secretary General what will make me fail to do so when am leading the party? So Some of these who are pushing me on SG post are my competitors who are buying them to liaise with me that i should not stand and pave way for them,” said Kaliati.

Kaliati went further to accuse some of the candidates of planning to sale the party once elected into the post of UTM Presidency.