Jane Ansah Answers

… adamant on resignation

Ansah: My conscience is clear

Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) Chairperson, Jane Ansah, has finally broken her silence on management of the May 21 Tripartite Elections, trashing former vice president and UTM president Saulos Chilima’s claims that she did not want him and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) torch-bearer Lazarus Chakwera to win the presidential election.

Ansah also responded to critics— among them officials from MCP, UTM, Human Rights Defenders Coalition— who want her to resign, equating such a call to the propagation of “lawlessness”.

She said this in an exclusive interview with Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS)’s Joab Chakhaza yesterday evening.

In the interview, the Mec Chairperson dodged the question on Tipp-ex use, saying the matter was in court.

“When time to give evidence [about Tipp-ex] comes, it will be given in court….Tipp-ex is a correction fluid; [Tipp-ex] is a trade name [trademark]; you use it to correct errors. Whether it was used for positive or negative purposes the court will find out. Mec never supplied Tipp-ex,” she said.

Asked if the commission foresaw the problem of Tipp-ex use and why it went ahead to accept forms adulterated with the correction fluid, she said: “We did not foresee that there would be that problem. We did not advise them [polling staff] on what to do [in case they wanted to make corrections on something]; these are staff that are trained. We expected them to do a thorough job. As I have said, I cannot go into details.”

On calls for her to resign, Ansah said: "When the court says, ‘because of these irregularities, the elections were not properly done’, yes [I would resign].
"My conscience is clear that I did everything according to the law and the processes that were there."

Ansah, who acknowledged getting a letter from Chilima, in which he asked her to resign and accused her of influencing Mec staff to turn against him, said she had responded to the former vice president.

“The issues are the gist of the matter and are in court; so, I cannot say what I wrote in my response. I did not even tell my family members what I wrote. What I can say is that I did my work according to law. Some of the issues were dealt with in [Mec] updates [at Comesa Main Tally Centre]. Those [issued raised in the letter] are allegations,” she said.

She went further to say she has eight siblings who belong to a number of political parties, making particular mention of Democratic Progressive Party, MCP and UTM.

Ansah added that they have a family forum where they discuss issues and that, at no time, did she instruct anyone [at Mec and family levels] to vote for, or turn against, a particular party.

The Justice of Appeal further trashed claims that she was anti-Muslim, saying she has relatives at Kamphata who are Muslim.

At the head of Mec: Ansah

“Sometimes, when I attend family events, I attend events at the mosque with them,” she said.

She also said she was yet to get a report on what happened to the Mec worker who transferred Chilima from a polling station in Lilongwe to the island district of Likoma — Chisepo Polling Centre in Chizumulu to be specific.

While waiting for Mec to clear the mess, Chilima said at the time: ''Since I am standing here, people may think that I am trying to incite violence during the election process, but my name cannot be found."

Ansah said at the time that they had discovered that someone transferred the UTM leader’s name to Chisepo Polling Centre. 

“We made a follow-up and found who had done the transfer. It was one of Mec’s hired staff. We do not know if police have found the person. We are interested [in the issue] but we have not received a report from police,” Ansah told ZBS yesterday, adding that, if the individual is apprehended, Mec would act as a witness.