It came as a shock but not as a surprise that the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) has decided to postpone four by-elections scheduled for some areas in Lilongwe and Dedza Districts.
Making the announcement on Thursday in Lilongwe, Mec Chairperson, Justice Jane Ansah said that government has no money to fund the polls initially scheduled for June 6.
For starters, the by-elections were supposed to take place in Lilongwe City South East and Lilongwe Msozi North constituencies as well as Mayani North Ward in Dedza and Mtsiliza Ward in Lilongwe.
Ansah made the announcement at a ceremony organised to launch the by-elections.
But the manner in which the whole process has been handled by Mec is very suspicious and smacks of collusion.
To begin with, the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has never wanted the seats to be occupied by members of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). This is normal and healthy for a democracy because ordinarily, such competition between parties would benefit the constituents as each party tries hard to serve and impress the communities.
But in this case, the citizens are the losers. When MCP’s Ulemu Msungama demanded a vote recount in Lilongwe City South East Constituency, Mec developed cold feet. Later, a warehouse that had the disputed ballot papers was gutted by a mysterious fire. What baffled many was that the first people to arrive at the scene of the fire were senior officials from the government spy agency, the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB).
Investigations into the incident yielded nothing and Mec proceeded to conduct its affairs as if nothing serious had happened.
Then the DPP, through its candidate Bentley Namasasu, vehemently challenged Msungama’s court bid, to the point of appealing a High Court ruling that favoured Msungama.
Even after the Supreme Court granted Msungama his wish, Mec came with theories that did not exist in the statutes. It threw so many spanners in efforts to conduct a re-run in the constituency. Probably sensing government and Mec intentions to scuttle the elections, the MCP gave in to Mec’s machinations. With no more tricks up its sleeve, Mec announced dates for the polls and rolled out a calendar of events, only to make a u-turn at the launch of the polls.
It is a well-known fact that the by-elections are falling in areas that are MCP strongholds. Wounds that the DPP suffered at spirited by-elections in Mchinji and Lilongwe City are still fresh and haunting the ruling party.
The DPP risks being seen to play delaying tactics to deny the MCP numeric supremacy in Parliament as well as in local councils. Suppose the by-elections were to happen in DPP’s stronghold of Mulanje or Thyolo, would money still have been an issue?
But DPP is a political party and our parties take each day as it comes. Mec will be the eventual loser and not the targeted MCP. Mec should know that its success in holding the 2019 tripartite elections depends on how it conducts itself between now and then.
Many Malawians already have misgivings about Mec’s credibility. If some sectors believe that Mec is biased, 2019 elections could be chaotic. And not many people, except Mec Commissioners, want such a scenario.
It does not make sense that the government can fail to mobilise K300 million from its bottomless pockets where politicians can steal until they drop dead.
The excuse by Secretary to Treasury, Ben Botolo, that the money for the elections were diverted to fighting army worms and purchase of drugs better be told to the marines. The government has for the past two years stressed that there are more than enough drugs at the Central Medical Stores Trust and indeed some drugs have expired and been destroyed. As for army worms, smallholder farmers used bare hands to kill them to no avail. Nobody sprayed their fields.
We expect the MCP and other stakeholders to press Mec and the government to respect laws of this country which emphasise on participatory democracy.
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