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| National |
| MCP protests against district commissioners |
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by
Joseph Langa, 29 November 2004
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11:24:34
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MCP has petitioned the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) to stop some district commissioners from administering the forthcoming by-elections because of their perceived bias.
MCP second vice president Nicholas Dausi said the petition to be delivered today was a decision made by the party’s National Executive Committee (Nec), which met in Lilongwe on Friday.
According to Dausi, MCP wants Mec to remove Lusizi Nhlane, District Commissioner for Nkhotakota and his Lilongwe counterpart Davis Sado because “they were behind the mess during the general election in May”.
“We don’t trust these returning officers. They failed to administer the general election and we don’t want them to mess up the by-elections,” said Dausi.
But Nhlane dismissed the MCP accusations as baseless, saying “they should produce proof that I rigged the elections”.
“I did not impose myself and I don’t get instructions from MCP. Let them consult the Commission,” he said.
Sado said he is already out of the by-elections because they are happening in the western side of the district.
He said the Commission divided the district into two parts during the general elections east and west.
According to Sado, the western side where the elections are happening is in the hands of district education manager Martha Nyongani.
“So, I will not be involved in the elections. MCP seems to be out of news,” said Sado.
Dausi said the party has already received complaints from the two districts where unjustified transfers have been done, citing Mchenga polling centre in Lilongwe East where he claims 776 transfers have effected.
“This is very suspicious. Where are all these people coming from in such a rural area,” wondered Dausi.
“That’s why we have decided to have the returning officers changed to avoid more problems, especially during counting and tabulation of results”.
Commission spokesperson Fegus Lipenga could not be reached on his mobile phone on Sunday.
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