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The Malawi National Examinations Board (Maneb) has said it barred former Football Association of Malawi (Fam) presidential candidate Geoff Gondwe from contesting in the Saturday elections because the candidate’s GCE O-Level is not the equivalent of Malawi Schools Certificate of Education (MSCE).
Maneb executive director Matthew Matemba explained in an interview on Tuesday Gondwe’s GCE O-Levels, which he presented prior to the elections, has four subjects only against Malawi’s requirement of six subjects.
“We scrutinised his paper together with the certificates by the other candidates and we discovered that in his GCE, he passed four subjects only which is not an equivalent of an MSCE.
“By Malawi standards, adding together every subject which he passed does not equal or become an equivalent of the MSCE,” said Matemba.
He said for a person to qualify for an MSCE, he or she should have passed six subjects including English and that one of the six should be a credit, or pass five subjects of which three are credits.
In a separate interview, Gondwe said he does not have problems with his qualification but he blamed Sports Council’s executive secretary George Jana who was the elections’ returning officer for not informing him in advance.
“I presented my paper a month prior to the elections and all along, the returning officer made people believe that I am one of the candidates. I look at the whole thing as electoral manipulation. The issue is now water under the bridge.
“Why did they have to wait until the elections day? If somebody was not satisfied with my qualification, they should have come back to me in time and not wait for me to answer on the day of elections,” said Gondwe.
Gondwe, who has worked in top positions, most notably in financial institutions, also complained that after communicating his disqualification message to the electorate, Fam urged him to go and search for a proper qualification. But when he brought it minutes later, he was told that it was too late and there was no time for verification.
But Jana, said he is not the one who was authenticating the papers and that Gondwe should have known better what he presented.
“It was not me scrutinising the papers and does he think I should have guessed what papers he possesses? If he has the certificate, let him prove to the nation by presenting it and Maneb is still available,” said Jana.
But Gondwe said in another interview he wrote four subjects only because he was exempted by the college from writing the two more subjects for reasons he did not disclose. He said he got the GCE from the University of London 30 years ago.
“After all, the certificate is 30 years old and the exemption certificate is with my former employers. I did not get it back because it is not necessary,” said Gondwe.
He however said he will not take the issue anywhere and that he is congratulating the president elect Walter Nyamilandu.
Gondwe’s disqualification from the race was announced by Jana at the eleventh hour at the elections hall in Blantyre. Two other unnamed aspirants for executive membership were also barred.
Nyamilandu scooped 69 votes to get the presidency while former Fam executive member Hastings Kapenuka got 27 votes. Former national team manager Kelvin Mmagisa got seven votes and there was one null and void vote.
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