Alfandika contradicts Ansah on Tippex source
Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) Chief Elections Officer, Sammy Alfandika, yesterday morning contradicted Mec Chairperson, Justice Jane Ansah, on the source of Tippex which was used to alter documents during the May 21 tripartite elections.
Alfandika told the court that Mec conducted an investigation during the election period on the source of the Tippex which revealed that the Tippex was coming from Teacher’s Development Centre’s (TDCs).
But in a televised interview played in court yesterday, Ansah said Mec did not institute any investigations to find out the source of the Tippex.
“We did not investigate the source of the Tippex but we just looked at the results sheets we had,” Ansah said in a chichewa interview.
Ansah argued that they could not investigate the matter because they had limited time from voting day to the day of announcing the results.
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) lawyer, Senior Counsel Mordecai Msisha asked Alfandika whether Ansah lied that Mec did not investigate the source of Tippex.
He insisted that Mec conducted the investigation.
“My Lady, My Lords, looking at the clip, the chairperson is making reference to the period during the determination of results, whether that investigation fell within that period and she makes it clear in that clip,” Msisha said.
Earlier, the court gave Msisha a go ahead to use the video clip in which Ansah had an interview with Zodiak Television over a month after the elections.
This was after Mec lawyer, Tamando Chokhotho, had objected to the plea, saying Msisha was trying to bring new evidence to the case.
Msisha also took to task Alfandika on claims that Tippex was used in constituency tally centres that were situated in TDCs.
Msisha brought to court a list of constituency tally centres which he said had Tippexed results but were not TDCs.
“I will give you a few centres. For instance in Thyolo East, which appears in Volume 25 of HM 2 at pages 102, 150, 160,164,170 and 175. At these constituency tally centres, Tippex was used but these centres were not on Teachers’ Development Centres,” Msisha said.
He also quizzed Alfandika on claims Mec made that it announced final results of the elections after addressing all queries.
Msisha said Mec did not address some of the queries raised by MCP at the time it was announcing the results.
He cited a letter of complaints from MCP Secretary General dated May 26 and two other letters which the party wrote Mec to complain on irregularities but were not responded to.
In his response, Alfandika said it was hard for him to remember whether he answered the complaints or not.
