Mess at Mec warehouse

Tom Sangala July 31, 2019

628 1 minute read

By Jameson Chauluka:

Fresh revelations from the inspection exercise of the polling materials for parliamentary elections for the three constituencies whose results have been contentious in Chikwawa and Nsanje districts show that some of the ballot boxes might have been tampered with after they were supposedly sealed on the polling day, May 21 2019.

Instead of finding ballot papers, results sheets, tally sheets, counter foils, log books and voter registers in the ballot boxes, people conducting the exercise were greeted with boxes containing reflectors, banners and other irrelevant documents

One of the people who was part of the exercise told The Daily Times that he suspects that the items were stuffed in the ballot boxes to add weight as if they contained ballot papers.

“Everyone was shocked to find these things instead of the documents which were supposed to have been put in the boxes when they were sealed at the polling centres,” he said.

Among other anomalies, out of supposed 41 counterfoils in Nsanje Central Constituency to show the total number of ballot papers used, only a few were found with only four log books.

During the exercise, it also transpired that some ballot boxes did not have seals while others only had one seal.

Again on top of the missing documents, some documents from Chiradzulu District found their way to a Nsanje Central ballot box.

Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) Chief Elections Officer, Sam Alfandika, Tuesday declined to comment on the matter saying there was nothing for him to comment on and played it down as media frenzy.

“The problem with you is that you want to punish someone. The matter is being handled by the courts and not the media so whatever the case, the courts will deliver their ruling,” he said.

During the inspection exercise, Mec could not produce results sheets and tally sheets for the parliamentary elections for Nsanje Central, Nsanje North and Chikwawa East constituencies which are in custody of the Clerk of Parliament.

The inspection is to do with a case in which three Malawi Congress Party (MCP) shadow legislators are challenging the election results for their constituencies, including Nsanje North.

MCP’s Kafandikhale Mandevana of Nsanje Central, Enoch Chizuzu (Nsanje North) and Foster Thipiwa (Chikwawa East) are challenging the parliamentary election results.

Following the elections, Mec declared Francis Kasaila of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) (Nsanje Central), Mcheka-Chilenje (Nsanje North, DPP) and Sam Khumbayiwa (United Democratic Front) in Chikwawa East as the winners.