Synod ‘prays’ for Jane Ansah’s resignation
The Synod of Livingstonia Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) has said it will continue praying for Malawi Electoral Commission’s Chairperson Jane Ansah’s resignation for allegedly mismanaging May 21 tripartite election results.
The synod threw its weight behind Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) which has been organising demonstrations aimed at forcing Ansah to resign.
Reverend Levi Nyondo, the synod’s general secretary, compared the country’s current turmoil and the purported people’s push for change to the old adage “Rome was not built in a day” which calls for patience when anticipating greater things.
“As a church, we are praying that she should resign quickly and we will not stop because she is the cause of everything; denominator of everything. So, we are still praying. The Bible says: do not stop praying until you achieve your objective and that is what we are doing,” he said.
Ansah has insisted she would not step down.
Nyondo further said if the people’s demands were not met, demonstrations would continue.
“If nothing changes it means they are creating more problems. But for us, as a church, our prayer is that we should have a listening government to say ‘why are these people still doing this?” he said.
The synod’s moderator, Reverend Douglas Chipofya, while concurring with Nyondo, condemned cases of violence that have characterised most of the anti-Ansah demonstrations.
“What is happening in the country leaves a lot to be desired. We are in a situation whereby people are crying over the May 21 elections. Demonstrations are a right but what is bad is destroying property during the demonstrations. We do not condone that and we condemn that in strongest terms,” he said.
Episcopal Conference of Malawi intends to hold prayers in all its archdioceses and dioceses of the Catholic Church in Malawi on October 19 2019 for peace, unity and reconciliation in the country.
Public Affairs Committee (Pac), a quasi-religious body, has been holding talks with stakeholders to find a favourable solution for all.
Pac intends to meet President Peter Mutharika for the second time after engaging the leadership of HRDC, UTM, Malawi Congress Party and Ansah.
Former president Bakili Muluzi, the United Nations and the Attorney General have also held talks aimed at defusing the political instability.
The instability came about after some quarters of the society observed that Mec mismanaged the elections’ results which saw UTM’s Saulos Chilima and MCP’s Lazurus Chakwera petitioning the High Court seeking nullification of the results.
