Malawi’s opposition demands release of senior official held for alleged felony

A spokesperson for the opposition United Transformation Movement (UTM) party is calling on the Malawi police to release or charge a party official arrested on Thursday. A police statement says Patricia Kaliati was arrested on suspicion of conspiring with two others to commit a felony. The statement says the police have evidence that would implicate Kaliati and her alleged co-conspirators. Kaliati is the Secretary General of the UTM, the party of the late Vice President Saulos Chilima who died in June in a plane crash. UTM spokesperson Felix Njawala tells VOA’s James Butty, the party suspects Kaliati’s arrest to be politically motivated