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| National |
| Parliamentary Committee grills Kalaile |
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by
Pilirani Semu-Banda, 02 September 2004
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09:33:27
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Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) James Kalaile on Wednesday appeared before the Parliamentary Public Appointments Committee (PAC) to explain why there was a public outcry against the May 20 general elections but failed to answer all the questions that the committee posed to him.
PAC chair Kate Kainja said in an interview on Wednesday Kalaile could not answer all the questions on the electoral process and that the committee will be calling other public officers to explain the situation.
“We are going on with the process to find out why people were concerned with the way the electoral process was conducted and after we finish the process, we will report back to Parliament and report to the nation as well,” said Kainja.
She said her committee will keep on monitoring public officers to ensure that their conduct is in line with people’s expectations.
PAC deputy chair Mark Katsonga said in a separate interview the committee will be summoning EC commissioners, the Chief Elections Officer and all electoral staff to explain why there was a public outcry on how the elections were conducted.
Katsonga said Kalaile also confirmed reports that he intends to resign from the Commission.
“He confirmed that he wants to go by the end of the month. Of course, he is not supposed to tender his resignation to us. He said he has already told the President of his intentions,” said Katsonga.
Opposition political parties called for the dissolution of EC following a European Union Observation Mission report saying the general elections failed to meet international standards.
The European Union Observation Mission for the May 20 polls said in its report the elections did not meet international standards and that the tabulation of the elections results lacked transparency and accountability to the extent that it is not possible to have full confidence in them.
The Malawi Law Society is on the record that the membership of the Commission should be reviewed since there are now more parties represented in the National Assembly.
Section 4(1) of the Electoral Commission Act stipulates that the President shall, subject to the Constitution and in consultation with leaders of political parties represented in the National Assembly, appoint suitably qualified persons to be members of the Commission on such terms and conditions as the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament shall determine.
The current Commission consists of members representing only three parties namely UDF, MCP and Aford which were represented in Parliament before the May 20 general elections.
The new parties that have joined parliament include PPM, Mgode, RP, CONU and NDA.
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