BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)–Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) has distanced itself from the November by election scandal which involved vice president Saulos Chilima’s aide Moses Kuchingake who was seen wearing Mec regalia.On November 1, 2016, Kuchingale was cornered at Kamwendo Polling Station in Mchinji for wearing a Mec tag while by-elections in the district’s West Constituency were underway. Malawi Congress Party officials at the site demanded an explanation regarding the “Mec official” tag but Kuchingale sped away.
Speaking to Daily Times, Mec Chairperson for Electoral Services Jean Mathanga has said it is very likely that Kuchingale got the Mec regalia from the district councils.
“We are very sure that Kuchingale got the tag from a district council because that is the only place the tags are found. But we are yet to get official report from the investigators. Investigations are still underway,” she said as quoted in the Daily Times.
She said the 2003 regalia have to be taken out of the councils as they could be finding their way out for bad reasons.
“Our suspicion is that this was gotten from the DCs office since it was an old badge. For your information, we have discovered that some DC offices are keeping badges for the 2003 [1993] referendum exercise and 2004 [1994] election. These will have to be taken out,” said Mathanga in a response to our questionnaire by the Daily Times.
Mathanga has since assured Malawians that the 2019 general elections will be free and fair.
In the Mchinji by-election, MCP retained the constituency in a tightly contested race with ruling Democratic Progressive Party which saw President Peter Mutharika and his vice Chilima and other party officials vigorously campaigning for their candidate.