Malawi Defence Force (MDF) Commander, General Paul Valentino Phiri, has said the soldiers are committed to ensuring that Malawi has a violence-free environment in the run-up to the September 16 General Elections.
Phiri was speaking during an engagement with secretaries general (SGs) of major political parties and the police ahead of the elections.
According to Phiri, MDF has started early enough to engage leaders of political parties on how Malawi can curb violence ahead of the polls.
He added that MDF is also in partnership with the Malawi Electoral Commission on the same issue and is working alongside the police to ensure a violence-free election.
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In recent months, Malawi has seen a rise in pockets of political violence as election tensions begin to rise.
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Among other points, Phiri said MDF will embrace the use of drones as one way of maintaining order during election-related demonstrations.
“From experience, in the past, you could see MDF walking alongside the demonstrators and people thought it was good.
“But we have seen that this was not good because, in a crowd, some people may do things to provoke the soldiers, which may affect security,” he said.
Phiri added that in the event of a security challenge, MDF will link up with the police so they can assist them.
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“We also plan to continually engage political leaders on the dangers of violence. We have also noted that politicians are abusing cyberspace to provoke violence. We are seeing many things on social media,” Phiri said.
Deputy Chairperson of the Security Taskforce Team in the Malawi Police Service (MPS), Babra Mchenga Tsiga, also said MPS remains committed to ensuring a violence-free election.
Tsiga said the police have already started training and raising awareness and they foresee a free and fair election.
Centre for Multiparty Democracy Chairperson Elias Chakwera said it is important for the parties to collaborate with the security agents ahead of and during the elections.
Alliance for Democracy SG Linda Limbe said it is important that MDF should be present in political hotspots to ensure that violence does not rear its ugly head.
According to Limbe, political parties have been engaging the police on the issue of political violence, but the discussions have not yielded any results.
On her part, Democratic Progressive Party National Director of Elections, Jean Mathanga, said it was encouraging to see MDF making commitments to assist the police in bringing peace in the run-up to and during the elections.
