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| National |
| Registration of voters hits hiccups,Registration of voters hits hiccups |
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by
Pilirani Semu-Banda,Pilirani Semu-Banda, 05 January 2004
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16:42:51
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Clerks carrying out registration for the May 18 general elections have threatened to stop administering the exercise between Wednesday and Thursday if the Electoral Commission (EC) does not give them enough money for the job.
The clerks in some centres in the commercial capital Blantyre yesterday delayed to open registration centres for up to an hour and accused EC of giving them false promises by telling them that they would get K30,000 ($283) for the job they are doing and by providing them with a lunch allowance of K1,300 per day when they were undergoing briefings on the registration exercise.
The commission has since indicated to pay supervisors K4,500 and to pay K3,500 to the clerks for the work done throughout the 14 days of registration.
A monitor for Church and Society at Nkolokoti Kate Chikakuda said EC on Sunday gave the clerks letters which did not indicate how much they will be paid and asked them to sign for an “unknown sum of money”.
“All the supervisors in Blantyre have agreed not to sign the letters because they do not indicate any figure,” said Chikakuda.
A supervisor at the centre Noria Tchonga was worried that the clerks will not concentrate on the job because they “will be working while hungry since the commission has also said that we will only be paid at the very end of the registration exercise” and that they will end up doing a bad job.
She said the clerks will not sign the letters until the commission improves the package.
Spot checks in other four registration centres at Nanjiri, Namilango, South Lunzu and Makalanga indicated that the issue of complaints over payment is wide spread.
Some monitors at Nkolokoti also said they discovered that some registration materials and that some names and photographs were missing from the voters’ roll.
“We think the missing registration materials have been tampered with the Blantyre City Assembly officials who were delivering the materials,” said one clerk who sought anonymity.
At South Lunzu the monitors accused a supervisor there of barring them from closely monitoring the process by telling them to sit outside the registration room.
Public Affairs Committee monitor Divason Matemba, Malawi Congress Party’s Franklin Tembo and the ruling United Democratic Front’s Mary Mtambo all accused their supervisor Nellie Ng’ombe of doing the registration exercise in secret.
EC spokesperson Fegus Lipenga said EC will work on making everything right and go around all centres to solve “any anomalies”.
On the threats by clerks to stop the registration exercise, Lipenga said the people should continue working so that the process does not stop.
“We will look into their complaints and make things right,” said Lipenga.
He said if they stop the exercise, the clerks will be contravening Section 19 of the Elections Act which says that “it shall be the duty of every relevant or competent public officer and public or private entity to cooperate with the commission in its activities and to contribute towards the success of an election and not to do anything that might hinder such process”.,
Clerks carrying out registration for the May 18 general elections have threatened to stop administering the exercise between Wednesday and Thursday if the Electoral Commission (EC) does not give them enough money for the job.
The clerks in some centres in the commercial capital Blantyre yesterday delayed to open registration centres for up to an hour and accused EC of giving them false promises by telling them that they would get K30,000 ($283) for the job they are doing and by providing them with a lunch allowance of K1,300 per day when they were undergoing briefings on the registration exercise.
The commission has since indicated to pay supervisors K4,500 and to pay K3,500 to the clerks for the work done throughout the 14 days of registration.
A monitor for Church and Society at Nkolokoti Kate Chikakuda said EC on Sunday gave the clerks letters which did not indicate how much they will be paid and asked them to sign for an “unknown sum of money”.
“All the supervisors in Blantyre have agreed not to sign the letters because they do not indicate any figure,” said Chikakuda.
A supervisor at the centre Noria Tchonga was worried that the clerks will not concentrate on the job because they “will be working while hungry since the commission has also said that we will only be paid at the very end of the registration exercise” and that they will end up doing a bad job.
She said the clerks will not sign the letters until the commission improves the package.
Spot checks in other four registration centres at Nanjiri, Namilango, South Lunzu and Makalanga indicated that the issue of complaints over payment is wide spread.
Some monitors at Nkolokoti also said they discovered that some registration materials and that some names and photographs were missing from the voters’ roll.
“We think the missing registration materials have been tampered with the Blantyre City Assembly officials who were delivering the materials,” said one clerk who sought anonymity.
At South Lunzu the monitors accused a supervisor there of barring them from closely monitoring the process by telling them to sit outside the registration room.
Public Affairs Committee monitor Divason Matemba, Malawi Congress Party’s Franklin Tembo and the ruling United Democratic Front’s Mary Mtambo all accused their supervisor Nellie Ng’ombe of doing the registration exercise in secret.
EC spokesperson Fegus Lipenga said EC will work on making everything right and go around all centres to solve “any anomalies”.
On the threats by clerks to stop the registration exercise, Lipenga said the people should continue working so that the process does not stop.
“We will look into their complaints and make things right,” said Lipenga.
He said if they stop the exercise, the clerks will be contravening Section 19 of the Elections Act which says that “it shall be the duty of every relevant or competent public officer and public or private entity to cooperate with the commission in its activities and to contribute towards the success of an election and not to do anything that might hinder such process”. |
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