Malawi electoral body recruits 746 quality control managers: ‘Mistakes story of the past’
Committing grave mistakes in the aspect of electioneering the 2014 Malawi polls will now be the story of the past, thanks to the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) which has recruited 746 quality control managers, Commissioner Mezuwa Banda has disclosed.
Speaking on Monday in Mzuzu when he officially opened two training workshops for electoral supervisors, clerks and returning officers drawn from Chitipa North, Wenya, East and South , Commissioner Banda said the managers role will be to check quality of data captured during the electoral process if the elections are to be credible.
Commissioner Banda said the recruitment of the officers is vital because apart from making the elections credible, MEC will be spared from incurring unnecessary costs which milked the associations funds through correcting similar mistakes instead of using the money for other equally important projects.
He said with names misspelt, photo missing or misallocated to other constituencies or missing in the voters’ registration rolls, it costs the electoral body’s image because many think MEC is doing it deliberately to suit its alleged sinister motives.
The commissioner said MEC as an independent and professional body realized that elections come once in years and there is no second chance hence it is making sure that the process is dealt with professionalism so that the right to one’s voting is not derailed because his or her name is missing as a result of someone’s mistakes.
Said Banda: “ Even me I wouldn’t love to be punished because of someone’s carelessness hence I appeal to you supervisors that you cooperate with camera operators and the managers to achieve quality job.”
He then advised the workshop participants to listen attentively to the teachings saying with Malawi switching from biometrics system to Optical Mark Registration (OMR) there is need for better understanding as most things are new.
The commissioner said the workshop is vital because it will help enhance democracy which is dear to achieve and preserve.
