Ansah defiant, ‘I will not resign’: Malawi Electoral Commission chair says Chilima allegations ‘absurd’

June 24, 2019 Wongani Chiuta - Nyasa Times 63 Comments

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah has said she will not resign as demanded by electoral stakeholders and rebutted allegations made by country’s immediate past vice-president Saulos Chilima that she  favoured President Peter Mutharika in the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections to the disadvantage of his challengers.

Ansah: I am not resigning, wait for the court

Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was declared the winner, but other contenders for the presidency, notably Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Chilima of UTM are challenging the results at the Constitutional Court.

Recently, Chilima wrote a letter to Ansah dated June 7 2019, which had claims that the MEC chairperson was overheard clearly indicating that she would rather have Mutharika win than Chilima or Chakwera.

Ansah speaking in a televised interview on private owned Zodiak Broadcasting Station said she is not resigning from the pollster as demanded by Chilima and other quarters of the society.

The MEC chairperson confirmed to interview host Frank Joab Chakhaza that she received the letter from Chilima and that it was replied.

Asked by journalist Chakhaza what was her response, Ansah said she replied to Chilima that what he pointed out are “a gist of matter that are in court.”

She said: “What I can say is that I did work according to the law.”

Chilima in his letter claimed to have evidence on the allegations against Ansah, and said he had expected the chairperson, who is a judge of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal, to provide “solid and impartial leadership” of the commission and steer the electoral process to ensure free and fair elections.

He said: “Instead, it is blatantly clear that you showed your preferences for Prof Mutharika in the manner you dealt with queries and complaints in your general conduct.”

But on Zodiak TV, Ansah said she would rather leave the matters to the court.

“What I can only say is that those are allegations,” said Ansah.

The journalist asked Ansah to comment on allegations by Chilima that she told members of the commission that she would be greatly grateful if they helped her ensure that Professor Mutharika gets re-elected.

Ansah said the allegations are “unfounded”, stressing “I never said it.”

She said her family has members who are affiliated to different political parties.

Ansah also rejected Chilima’s  claims that she specifically mentioned that she did not want Chakwera to get elected because his running mate Muhammad Sidik Mia is a Muslim.

MEC chairperson said some of her relations at Kamphata in Lilongwe belong to Muslim religion.

“It  is absurd for anyone to say that,” said Ansah (nee Mjojo).

“Even me at the church we don’t discuss politics, we just preach the word. I don’t know where this is coming from,” said Ansah who is also a church pastor.

Ansah said Chilima has seen it fit that he should follow proper procedure by taking his grievances to the court

“There are laws concerning everything they are talking about. Allow the whole process to go through according to the law,” said Ansah.

Opposition parties and civil society organisations (CSOs) under the banner of Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) have announced plans to hold further demonstrations following their unfulfilled June 20 protest demands to have Ansah resign.

But Ansah said they should wait for the court process and not rush to take the law in their own hands.

“What they are doing is mob justice,” she said.

“Dr Chilima and HRDC are they investigators, prosecutors and judges. They should wait for judgement and then act but for them to go out in the street that’s mob justice. That is lawlessness,” said Ansah who once served in the late Bingu wa Mutharika administration as Attorney General.

“Everybody should be given a chance to be heard.  Let the court decide, when the matter is concluded they can stand on that judgement. They don’t have the mandate to ask me to resign, let them get the mandate first,” said MEC chairperson.

She asked the opposition and CSOs to “have the patience to wait for the court process.”

Pressed what would take her to resign, Ansah said: “When the court says yes because of the irregularities the elections were not credible.”

During the interview, Chakhaza quizzed Ansah on pictures she was photographed with the ruling DPP cadets on inauguration of President Peter Mutharika which went viral on social media. She defended herself that it was just a photo opportunity and did not realise they were party youth.

But Chakhaza pressed her that the youth were clad in DPP memorabilia and conspicuously seen to be party cadres.

“As a matter policy, I don’t watch TV, therefore I don’t know what people are wearing,” she said.

Yet earlier she said she sees her relatives wearing party colours which they post to family groups.

But explaining in one of her answers, she talked of a TV programme  ‘Star Wars’, showing her knowledge of what’s on television.

Pressed if she could be proud of the way she handled the 2019 elections, Ansah said: “I stand by what I said [before]. Everything,  I did according to the law, my conscious is clear.”

Ansah maintained there was no rigging in the May 21 Tripartite Elections, pointing out that Malawians are saying something different from what others who are crediting the country’s elections as credible.

She cited the feedback from Commonwealth Observer Mission that credited Malawi alone of the first countries in the world where they have used auditors during the elections.

During the interview, Ansah said she was leading a ‘normal life despite widespread calls for her to resign over the chaotic elections.

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63 replies on “Ansah defiant, ‘I will not resign’: Malawi Electoral Commission chair says Chilima allegations ‘absurd’”

  1. I fail to understand this woman. It appears she is in her own world. If I may ask her, where in the world are tippexed electoral results allowed as she did? From what I know, tippex is not allowed to tapper with electoral information, and yet she maintains that the election was credible. Frankly speaking, this woman is telling us lies for reasons best known to herself.

    1. Mbendera oyipa, lero Ansah oyipa. It is the system that needs to be changed. Simungalimbane ndi individuals mpaka kale kale

  5. If I was the one reporting I would say Jane Ansah agreed she will resign but only if the courts find that the elections were flawed! So yes she said she will resign only if…….. that should be way to report guys!!!

    1. Glad your not the one reporting kkkkk How hard is it to come out crystal clear for Mrs Star Wars to tell the Nation that I Jane Ansah will resign I repeat I Jane Ansah will resign only if the courts says I am in the wrong for quickly announcing the results before solving the mandado and acting like cadet and not a ref. She knows the game she played wena!!

  6. I listened with keen interest the whole interview yesterday evening. While I appreciated most of her responses, I was vexed by the response she provided towards the end of the interview when she was asked how she would feel if the court determined that there were indeed irregularities in the manner the presidential votes were managed given her insistence that the whole process was very transparent and that there was no way fraudulent activities could have happened. Her response was in a form of an analogy where she said in the old days we had houses without fences and burglar bars but now we have fences and burglar bars in the hope of not allowing thugs to steal from us — but with all these security measures, are thieves not still stealing? Folks, please learn something from this analogy.

    1. Ndeule …you are a good listener. You have exposed what is hidden in between lines of her analogy.

  7. These are the women Malawi needs.. very strong and determined and working according to the dictates of the Law. She was so transparent and took every stakeholder on board. Madam never get shaken up by ill minded people who are greedy for nothing. A Saulosi musaiwale anali # 3 and nkumachita matukutuku kuti anaberedwa. Palibe amene angabere chisankho ku Malawi and we all know this. No election will run without irregularities .See what happened in the US, in Kenya , In ZIm in Zambia. Everywhere there will be challenges but what is crtical is that they have to be resolved which MEC did with all leaders of Political parties. MCP kufuna udidno basi and Chakwera akudziwa kuti nthawi yake yatha tsopano

    2. @Bonney Phiri
      Perhaps you can’t get a meaningful and relevant statement.
      Clearly, inappropriate and from a mind that is incapable of critical analysis.

    1. Dr.Jane Ansah is a distinguished woman by far.Very articulate , intelligent and with full of foresight. So many lessons to learn from the interview. One, lets have the patience as matters are in court. That is a simple and easy to follow procedure or rule .Secondly, as I write there is nothing , absolutely nothing wrong she has done. Anything being said against her are just allegations….Thirdly, do not be the prosecutor , investigator and the judge…..Fourthly ….do not practice mob justice. These are the very basics that we should not miss to understand.Koma…eeee

  11. May be you didnt know, Zodiak inadyaso ma banzi a DPP nchifukwa amafuza moyepula, akanakhala Brian Banda mfiti imeneyi ikanadziwa ndi kumva kuti juuuuuuu. Chilungamo chake nchakuti zisankho zinakuvutani chifukwa cha dyera ndi ndalama. Why not asking zoti anadya K2 Billion kwacha. Inutu mupanga resign whether ku umoyo or ku imfa.

  13. Probably you could not tell your family because they they are not in a position of influence unlike those people at MEC whose action influanced the ultimate outcome of the elections. When Iceman KIller, the man who killed about 120 people in different occations in America was asked what he regreted the most, he said “I regret that all this while my wife did not know that I am a serial muderer.” There are a lot of people who do a lot of evil and yet their immediate families do not know who they really are. So Jane Ansa’s answer that she did not even tell her immediate family who to vote for does not suffice to convince us that she could influence her worker on who to favour in the election.

  14. “Dr Chilima and HRDC are they investigators, prosecutors and judges. They should wait for judgement and then act but for them to go out in the street that’s mob justice. That is lawlessness,” said Ansah who once served in the late Bingu wa Mutharika administration as Attorney General.

    A Chilima ndi ma CSO muyankhe funso limenelo. Akukufunsani Ansah. Nokha nkhani kukhothi. Khothi silinagamule muli munseu kumuopseza munthu kuti atule pansi udindo. Koma tiziti mitu ikugwira? Sikubalalika kumeneku? Ndiye kubalalika kwache kumeneku mutha kutsogolera dziko?

  15. Resigning is just one of the solutions, and that does not work then the next options will be engaged. See you there!

  16. Even if its true what she said about Sidik Mia and Chakwera- cant you people see for yourselves what is happening! Anthu awa ndi ma desoparados and they will loot the country coffers bad- you have never seen what you are yet to see

    1. How? Can we say you are stealing because you are afraid of someone to come and take what would be yours? Chimutu chopanda bongo.

  17. Kaya ndi ufiti, koma anthu ngati inu ndi amene mukupangitsa ku malawi asakhale wokoma, busy defending you did a good job while the people u were working for are not satisfied with your output, total wickedness madam.

      1. @ Pido

        Anthu akhale akulemba fundo for the past 5 years koma simumamva. Your adamance thus necessitates use of insults and violence and truly violence and insults appear to be effective.

  20. I thought you could have written about K30million weighing several tons! People carry that amount in a shopping plastic bag. I don’t why the interviewer never pressed for this lie by the MEC chair.

    1. MA CONTRADICTIONS THOO!!

      I’M HAPPY FOR JOAB, WAS CALM & COLLECTED AND WANTED TO GET FACTS AND NOT SARCASM – OSATI AJA OLOWEZA, OMANGOTI ‘MUKUDYERELA’??

      1. have you ever been interviewed before? Joab was calm because he formed those questions and he was not answering them. put yourself in her shoes and try and answer those questions in a limited time. Muliratu!

  22. MORE AND MORE EVIDENCES OF
    MALPRACTICES ARE EVIDENT /COMING IN —-WHY PUTTING MOTHER MALAWI ON FIRE BECAUSE OF YOUR WICKED/EVIL MINDS ?

  23. Amalawi mbava osazipatsa ulemu chifukwa mbava zilibe ulemu ndi chisoni zisakuchedwetseni

  24. Well done Jane Ansah. You are a genius and you gave the most desirable answers. Joab is just a kid. He failed to ask questions that could corner you. Chakhaza mpakana kuphwitsa eti. Ana achepa!!!!!!!

    1. YOU CONSIDER THE AUDIENCE AND NOT YOUR PERSONAL FEELING WHEN HANDLING SUCH AN INTERVIEW, JOAB REPRESENTED THE VIEWS OF THE WIDER AUDIENCE HERE, WELL DONE TO JOAB!!

  26. Excellent interview Hon MEC Chairperson. Very consistent and professionally done. Arafat Hamdani is a bad loser together with his new found friend fake accent ex-reverend Chakwera-wakwera-Joisi. Let them go to hell and roast. They can’t be forming an alliance post factum to cause chaos in Malawi. The long arm of the law will soon catch up with them and sort them out.

  27. Madam chairperson I listened to your interview with keen interest. You said rulings of the high court on electoral disputes are final and not appealable. Why then your organization through your lawyers appealed against high court’s ruling to continue with the case at the high court?

  28. Jane Ansah anakonza!!.chitsulo cha njanji,Kuchitekete,Anamatetule..ku Mtunda. Mzimayi wa nzeru wosaopa munthu.A lot of malawian women should learn from her..osati za a Joyce Banda zija, kapane zomangotukwana za a kaliati. School is important,this woman is a very good example.When you follow the rules and procedures and the law to the letter yo come out with a clear conscious.

    1. Mpaka Judge Ansah kupitiliza ndi kuyenda ndi Mdidi!!
      Akutha udindo, ndipo kuitha nchito.

  29. Madam Ansah, zisiyeni zitsiru,mbuli zosadziwa malamulo zizilira, apenga amenewo. Achewa inu chimene mungaziwe ife anthu tonse akumwera tinavotera ndipo tidzapitilira kuvotera DPP. Ngati kuvotera DPP ndikubera masankho ndiye muziberedwadi kkkkkkk

  31. Chilima has no moral ground to demand resignation from anyone. For a whole year he pocketed a salary without working for it. He lived in a government house and used government cars and security and yet did not report for duty. He failed to set standards as a leader and he cannot ask someone to do what he failed to fo.

  32. Chilima’s claims are hearsay, and nothing more; hearsay is cheap and not worth the breath it spoken with.
    Chilima is acting desperate, and he should have suspected amene amamupopa had ulterior motives of personal gain: that never panned out, to their chagrin. One wonders if he’s still abusing substances. Pity the guy.
    Please leaver the Judge alone, and do not smear her reputation with Malawi red mud.
    Judge Ansah has no single bone of political bias in her whatsoever. She’s as fair and professional to the maximum; and we cannot say that about many prominent Malawians, including Chilima himself.
    Why are the media giving HARDtalk Chilima so much oxygen, anyway?
    He is a cry baby, and wosakhwima uyu (politically immature).
    Politics is not for him; he’s simply an attention seeker, and he should have disappeared into the sunset the day after the elections, when he came a VERY distant third.
    Kikiki UTM (bus company of ages ago).
    Judas quasi politician. Now paying the piper, and achakachika posachedwa pompa.

  33. Mzimayi uyu akulimba mtima akudziwapo kanthu.Even a court sanena zomveka she seems defiant.Ndipo wanyoza a Malawi ponena kuti we are good at writing fiction stories and fake news.The only fake news here is that iweyo upitiliza kukhala chair wa MEC

  34. This was a publicity stunt which I did not bother listening to. Telling us to wait for the court decision when you are trying halt the court process is taking us for a bad ride and we don’t buy that crap. If you are sincere, let the court do their job to “exonerate” you if indeed you did rig the elections for Peter.

    We know tippex was used because up told us so. If you buy the judges which I pray you won’t, we will use people power to dig out the bandits masquerading as DPP politicians. No one is getting away with electoral fraud this time

    1. This is the most stupid answer I have read. You want democracy which follows the rule of law then you go on rampage to bulldoze yourselves to state house?

    2. Rubbish talk. She is simply saying that when an issue is in court, no one can comment. Dont you understand? Act sensibly. If you did not bother to listen to, then why are you commenting on things that you did not hear? If you wanted to hear what you wanted to hear, then you should answer the questions yourself.

  36. Good that MEC Chair has come out to defend her work and blast the violent fools led by Chakwera and Chilima.

  37. GREAT woman with a brain made of steel. You studied and have risen the top of the Judiciary as Supreme Court judge through hardwork. Well done ANSAH. You are an example to our girls. We admire you wholeheartedly – girls and young women should endeavour to follow your foot-steps. Let no-one take put you down apparently because you are a woman. Men have messed Malawi up over the years and we never called them names using their gender.

  38. Personally, I don’t think everything was okay with the way the election was handled; but it’s unfortunate that whenever election results haven’t gone in favour of certain parties then they were rigged. When it’s in your favour then all praises to the MEC personel. This is bad and can take the country no where. Unfortunate you only care for yourselves and you believe your position is best. Shame!!!

    1. Now if you are sincere that you don’t think everything was okay in as far as the elections were handled and these very things we are getting were the same issues we were told in 2014, is it wise to keep up going that way? What moral picture are we, as Malawians giving to the world? Moti pawekha ukuona kuti amene akufuna kuti whoever does what we are experiencing should be exposed akuchita zodzikonda? What between either [1] letting the culprits of the mistakes not taken to task as was the case in 2014, or [2] asking the courts to expose the culprits so we should not have a repeat of the same can be termed bad and take the country no where? Is what we are having, based on 2014 and 2019 election experiences, a genuine election or pseudo election that is allowing a group of fraudsters to impose themselves on us? Sincerely any moral person can never side with such a fake election….!

      If you indeed listened to Jane Ansah during the interview, she openly said, election cases are never appealable! Now they are never appealable why has she taken the case to the supreme court of appeal? What is she hiding, because the process they are fighting for is merely to kill the case in its bud? Evil will never supersede good and darkness is always powerless to light……………….!!

  39. Jane Ansah can not accept to resign, that would be directly implicating the president and DPP, can’t you see that? And DPP would deal with her before she exposes them, have you forgotten what happened to Mbendera? we are talking of a mafia team here. She will only resign if a mdala ” profesa” resigns first…………..muisova

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