Written by Patseni Mauka
It all started like some Nigerian movie. In a poorly written, rehearsed and delivered script, Chief Director for public sector reforms in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) Seodi White led some hired mourners in fake crying live on TV in what was called a defence of a ‘fellow woman’ Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Chairperson Justice Jane Ansah. It was painful to watch.
Malawians are demanding the resignation of the MEC chairperson for presiding over a rigged and poorly handled election. According to White and her hired company, Ansah is being victimized because she is a woman. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There are many women holding different positions in both government and private sector who have never been asked to resign just because they are women. An example is White herself who despite holding a senior position in government, has never been asked to resign just because she is a woman.
In fact, before Ansah, the MEC chairperson post was twice occupied by Justice Anastasia Msosa, a woman who never faced the same strong demands to resign. The question is why Ansah? It’s because of her poor and questionable performance as well as her blatant lies in defence of MEC’s conduct.
Millions of Malawians are not satisfied with the way the 2019 elections were managed. With each passing day, more revelations about the shambolic elections are coming out. The more revelations come out, the more the integrity of MEC led by Ansah is being questioned. Ansah’s lies during her press briefings at the tally centre in Blantyre are now being exposed one by one.
For example, during press briefings, Ansah initially said MEC received 147 different complaints from different parties. Later, she said in fact the concerned parties didn’t lodge complaints with MEC and that the issue of Tippex, a correction fluid, was resolved. This was a complete lie. If MEC resolved the issues thoroughly, the country would not have been in a current state of chaos.
MEC was in hurry to declare DPP’s Peter Mutharika winner. MEC declared Peter Mutharika winner within a few minutes after a court injunction against release of the results was lifted. Surprisingly, in the ongoing election case, having been ordered by the courts on 27 June 2019, MEC has failed to disclose and produce the election documents including original presidential results tally sheets within 11 days. If they don’t have the documents now, how did they decide the winners of the election? Therefore, the Ansah led MEC has completely lost credibility.
If anyone was in doubt that Jane Ansah is a crook who should not be anywhere near the leadership of a crucial organization like MEC, her interview on Zodiak TV a few weeks ago removed those doubts. In a highly anticipated interview, Jane Ansah miserably failed to clear any doubts that she is a hardcore DPP supporter who wants to uphold the dodgy election results at all cost.
I always watch body language and altitude during interviews. Her body language in the interview was that of a person who believes Malawians are stupid. She believes just because she is a judge of the Supreme Court, all Malawians can believe her lies.
During the interview, she said MEC never bought Tippex, never authorized use its use but accepted ‘tippexed’ results without signatures of party monitors. This is incredible. Elections should have high standards, that is why poorly marked ballot papers are deemed null and void.
It is understood that MEC didn’t authorize use of correction fluid to avoid any room for cheating. The fact that when Tippex was illegally used, MEC still quickly accepted the results and then heavily defended its use speaks volumes.
When asked why as a person who is supposed to be seen as independent and neutral, she was photographed smiling and surrounded by DPP cadets at an event soon after the tense elections, Ansah said she did not know that they were DPP cadets because she doesn’t know Malawian party colours. She added that she doesn’t watch TV and that’s one of the reasons she doesn’t know party colors. Even a kid would know that this was a lie.
This is a person who is a chairperson of an electoral commission which arranges ballot papers that have colours and symbols of parties. She also has attended many government functions where DPP supporters in their party colours are always present. How can she not know DPP colours?
Malawians have seen enough from this woman to know that she is incompetent and a crook. To have such a MEC chairperson at a time when Malawians were angry and looking forward to a credible election was a mistake. The combination of MEC’s questionable performance and Ansah’s obvious lies are what has led to the demands for her resignation. Not the fact that she is a woman.
MEC and Ansah have lost credibility. Malawians don’t need to wait for the court case verdict to demand her resignation. Credibility is not an issue that needs to be proven in court. The public that MEC and Ansah serves has lost trust in them. Malawians feel cheated. That is why people are demonstrating to show that they no longer trust MEC and Ansah.
The constitution is clear about the right to demonstrate. Citizens can demonstrate for whatever reason. They don’t need the courts to approve the reasons for demonstrations. Therefore, Seodi White and her paid actors are wrong to say that people should wait for the election case before demanding the resignation of Ansah.
Around the world, people resign once they realize that their position is no longer tenable. They don’t wait for court processes. In fact, many people resign without any court cases involved at all. In the Philippines, in July 2005, ten cabinet officials resigned en masse to pressure President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to follow suit over allegations of electoral fraud. They didn’t wait for any court case.
Malawians should be relentless in getting rid of Ansah, DPP and its crooked apologists like Seodi White who play the victim card to defend their sources of income. For them, it’s about their sources of income. For us, it’s about our country and future.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of the Publisher or the Editor of Maravi Post