Remembering Malawi's elections

Showers disturb voters’ roll verification clerks
By Richard Chirombo
Rain showers on Wednesday morning affected clerks currently engaged in
the voter verification exercise ahead of the May19, 2009 parliamentary
and presidential elections.
A visit to the Electoral Commission’s (EC) offices by AEP-Malawi
established that the clerks are working on an open ground within EC’s
premises, a development some of the clerks said was rendering their
job difficult.
This became evident when, from around 11:00am to 12:20pm, light
showers forced the workers to seek the shelter of a building just
nearby, but even that was not enough for cover since the clerks are
many in number.
Already, concerns are growing that the electoral body could miss the
May19,2009 elections deadline, assertions EC’s chairperson, Justice
Anastasia Msosa, parried aside at a press briefing last Friday.
One of the clerks complained that they were being subjected to an
environment that could effectively impair their output and fan fears
the elections date may be shifted to another date.
Msosa has, however, assured voters that, come what may, the elections
are on. She said Malawians could as well start preparing for that task
of standing in a queue ready to effect decisions (one of parliamentary
candidate, the other for president) that could as well define the
destiny of the Southern African Development Community member state for
the next five years.

Comesa observer mission in Thursday
By Richard Chirombo
The sight of people in Southern African Development Community (SADC)
observer mission attire is fast becoming a part of city wear in
Malawi’s commercial city of Blantyre. That is typical of Africa, a
continent that believes in the communal mythology of ‘a friend in need
is a friend in deed’.
Yet, Malawi has so many such friends. The Common Market for Eastern
and Southern Africa (COMESA) being one. Where are COMESA officials,
who are supposed to be here in good time and observe events as they
unfold in the run up to the elections Tuesday next week?
Time to hold the mouth as AEP-Malawi can reveal that COMESA’s observer
team jets in tomorrow, on Thursday, through Kamuzu International
Airport in Lilongwe, the Capital city.
The development acts as an assurance to voters that, after all, the
polls are here on May19, 2009- and that any told of postponement hold
no more water. There have been growing worries voting may be postponed
due to uncertainties over completion of the voters’ roll verification
process.
But the Electoral Commission has assured voters that the reality of
holding the elections on May19 were as stuck in the deep waters of
certainty as the Titanic once was. There simply is no cause for
concern or postponement, both EC’s chairperson Justice Anastasia Msosa
and the electoral body’s spokesperson Fegus Lipenga have said time
without number.
The European Union observer mission arrived sometime back. All the
observer teams will, alongside local NGOs and electoral monitors,
ensure the elections are held under the curtain of transparency.
This helps losers accept defeat with dignity and reduces incidences of
violence, says Life line Malawi’s Executive Director, Kenwilliams
Mhango.
Mhango, a man of many huts- former Malawi Congress of Trade Unions
president, African Network for the Protection of Child Abuse and
Neglect Malawi Chapter Country Director, Life line Malawi’s Executive
Director, Human Rights Consultative Committee’s board member, and
human rights activist, among other huts- wants Malawians to forget
their many huts on May19, and wear one hut- the single-minded
convicted that the elections were free and fair.
“This leads into some dignified acknowledgement of defeat by losers
and considerate acceptance of victory by the side with many votes- our
system being based of ‘First-past-the-post’. In the end, peace
prevails and democracy wins. This is the sort of democracy we want in
Malawi, and the monitors help us a lot in this regard,” said Mhango.