According to Muluzi, the meeting was aimed at “preparing for the outcome of the Presidential election case” which must be out between now and February 3, 2020.

“This country is in a crisis. What matters now is to find a lasting political solution to the situation,” Muluzi said in an exclusive interview with Zodiak Online.

This is the first known meeting between the two leaders since the disputed May 21 elections in which they both contested as presidential candidates for their parties.

Muluzi was, however, not among those who petitioned the courts disputing the elections; instead Dr. Chakwera and UTM leader Dr. Saulos Chilima did.

Muluzi claimed his meeting with Chakwera was never about a working partnership.

We spoke to Dr. Chakwera who declined to discuss the contents of the meeting.

But later on his Facebook page, Chakwera wrote:

“I held fruitful discussion with (the) United Democratic Front, about how we can overcome our differences and join hands in nation-building going forward”.

Coming as the clock ticks away on the pronouncement of the constitutional court verdict on the presidential election case, some commentators feel “it is telling” of what predictions of the political landscape are in the country “on what lays ahead”.

However, other political commentators say this may only be a response to calls for political leaders to prepare their followers on the surprises that the court could hold.

Before the May 21 tripartite elections, Muluzi had been a cabinet minister in the DPP administration for years in a political relationship that nearly brought problems in both the DPP and the UDF as it was not clearly defined.