HRCC calls for new MEC, fresh Malawi Tripartite Elections
Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC) has asked President Peter Mutharika to consider firing Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah together with her Commissioners and call for fresh tripartite elections within 150 days as stipulated by the Constitutional Court (ConCourt).
Mkwezalamba (2nd from right) addressing a news conference in Lilongwe. Photo by Watipaso Mzungu, Nyasa Times.
HRCC is a network of 97 civil society organizations (CSOs) comprising local civil society organizations with interest in the areas of protection of people’s rights, promotion of the human rights agenda, and safeguarding good governance and the rule of law,
HRCC chairperson Robert Mkwezalamba said on Monday that the solution to the prevailing political and constitutional crisis lies in the dissolution of MEC leadership and its Secretariat so that Malawi can achieve a universally accepted election result.
Mkwezalamba made these remarks when he appraised the media on the role civil society organizations (CSOs) will take in support of the concerned citizens who have filed a case seeking nullification of the Parliamentary and Local Government Elections in line with ConCourt ruling of 3rd February, 2020.
He said the Committee has understood the motivation for the legal pursuit in that it is not being pursued as a political vendetta despite the concerns arising from a political situation.
“As a nation, we need to set records straight through use of appropriate legal institutions to help us clear people’s myths and concerns over national matters. To this effect, we endorse and support their application as also highlighted below, which forms the basis of our entry into this matter,” said Mkwezalamba.
“It is a fact that both MPs and councilors benefited from the same Tippex, which messed up presidential vote, the same MEC commissioners and staff, the same party monitors and observers; hence, it cannot be fair and just to simply condemn presidential results and not the rest, there isn’t any equity here,” he added.
Mkwezalamba was flanked by other network members such as Clement Makuwa and Mike Banda, among others, when he addressed the Monday afternoon press briefing.
Banda said it remains a challenge to confirm MEC’s incompetency after managing over parliamentary and local government elections results successfully, but failed to manage results for only 12 presidential candidates.
“Yet still, it remains a mystery where over 35 electoral cases ended up with MEC successfully defending over 28 of its decisions! Whereas Malawi is a constitutional order and our learned judges found MEC incompetent, it follows even that all its pronouncements require being nullified on the basis of such incompetency. It remains common knowledge that the same incompetency they executed presidential polls applied to MPs and councilors,” said Banda.
Education ya umbuli.This is straight forward.This argument could not have come before the judgement.It is the selective judgement which has sparcked this and this affects all the parties.The election was a one package, don’t mislead people.Genuine people Al over know this and question ing.
Olivier, the president does not listen because he is a stone without senses. He only listens to his wife and that is why Gertrude is behaving like Gucci Grace Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who misled her husband and led him to his down fall due to selfishness and greed!
Lindi, remember that the court dealt with the complaints about the presidential votes because those who were not satisfied with the outcome lodged. It appears MPs and Councillors were satisfied or were afraid of the unknown and never put forward any complaint. The court could not, therefore, stretch forth its tentacles to pull in the MPs’ and Councillors’ issue because they never put forward a complaint of disatisfaction with the polls, which is their own fault and not the court’s!
i dont know why mr president does not listen to people who put him to power. he refuses to fire MEC chair, refuses to fire MEC commissioners. refusing to fire Chisale. and refusing to adhere to the voters demand. i hope one day i will get a good answer why such things happen. The bible says in chichewa “ngat udzaumitsa khosi lako utadzudzulidwa mokanira, udzathyoka modzidzimutsa opanda okuchiritsa” such things i pray should not happen to you bwana president. suppose dpp yachoka mu boma i tell you it will be so hard to return into government. it will be so hard. and there will be alot of casualties. idzakhala ngati UDF kumangolowera uku ndi uku osakhazikika
It is MCP and UTM who want MEC commissioners to be fired (NOT PEOPLE). Lest you forget, it is the same MEC that delivered the current illegal MPs and councillors through the so-called tippex elections. Let the courts annul the parliamentary and local government election results.
Shaaa Ma MP ndi speaker kudzadzandima kuti dzandi dzandi Phiiii.
Fight an already known loosing battle. Presidential polls were challenged within its stipulated time. The parliamentary polls were challenged by individuals who were not satisfied. Those who presented their case and defended it beyond reasonable doubt carries the day. Where have you been to note about the anormallies Were you not there as observers? Why didn’t you bring you case with the evidence at first within the period.
Vuto lomakwera mmalo mogwira ntchito yanu mwachulungamo. Munaliwona kuti ili linali vuto ndithu koma munasekelera. Some MPs indeed benefited from these irregularities. Mwagenda katauluka
What I find shocking is that representatives of no less than 97 CSO’s can actually see merit in this argument regarding MPs and Councillors. Judges deal with what is before them; they are not there to achieve perfection. For example most people know that many cashgaters escaped justice for the simple reason that their “cases” were never brought to trial. These people are enjoying their ill gotten gains to this day, living in their “Nigerian” mansions and driving fancy cars. Those who went to jail are a fraction of all cashgaters. However, those languishing in jail cannot say, timasuleni chifukwa anzathu ena amene anaba adakanjoya kunjaku. Aliyense amayendera yake. There’s no perfection in this life. Deal with it like adults…
@ Jwa Mjipi thus why we say the judgment was compromised in many areas, firstly these judges focused on 50+1 when the applicant (utm n MCP) did not brought it (kuweluza nkhani yoti siinabweretsedwe mu court.
In 1999 supreme court judgment it clearly determined who the winner should be, it never said the winner should get 50+1 but the one with more votes, thus why we have been using this system all along, another proof to this is there in the constitution. That is why the judges asked the mp’s to change the constitution to reflect their verdict.
The judges erred in overturning the supreme court judgement which is the highest court of the land, this is clearly undermining the very laws which the courts are meant to adhere to.
In short the 3 Feb judgment was not a true reflection of justice rather it was a reflection of hitting where it pains most
No sanagende katauluka chigamulo chinanena momveka bwino kuti a MEC sanagwire ntchito yawo bwino. Zimatha kuchitika olo pa ntchito kuti bwana akuwabela malipilo a ntchito nde munthu m’modzi or awiri apita kukasuma nde bwalo lagamula kuti bwanayo amabadi izi zikutanthauza kuti a ntchito onse akuyenela kubwenzeledwa ndalama zawo.
Chomodzimodzi a papa ngati nkhoti linagamula kuti mec siinagwire ntchito yabwino ndichachiziwikile kuti chisankho chonse sichinayende bwino.
Tippex sanagwiritsidwe pa u president okha ayi komanso ma MP ndi ma councilors kotero kuti tijuyenelanso Ku vota mu zisankho zonse zapatatu
Very good point volume up please………..
Vuto la inu aMalawi ndi lakusavesa. The judgement of concourt was clear and well interpretated. And the evidence that were brought before them were very massive were also proved beyond reasonable doubt. MEC failed to defend themselves before the same court. Why blaming innocent judges agalu inu. Choti mziwe palibe mnthu amene anapitisa mlando ku court of zisankho zakunyumba yamalamulo kapena makonsolo ziyimisidwe. Anthu opusa inu mwachita bwanji kodi. Ndinu zisiru za anthu foseke zambwiyamwi ake
Mutu udawoola koma zipalapasiro zilibwino,nde chigamulo chemenecho aaaa,achingoti zonse zinayende bwino nakagwirizana nawo
Kukhulupirira ma court kudzandivuta tsopono
It is HRCC please not HRDC .
I am not a lawyer but I have ever stood in court box. I believe the judges act only on issues which have been presented to them. And in the election related cases the issues must be presented within seven days. If the seven days ended but the matters were not presented to court I don’t think the Court could entertain such matters. I have never studied law but l believe hrcc know. I suspect they are speaking after someone has put a scone in their mouths. Please don’t mislead us. The judges hands are clean.
I wonder whether the so called HRCC is conversant with court procedures, court cannot act on what is not presented before it, useless and toothless HRCC
Monosile, i do agree and understand your point, its very vaild and needs no comment further. However, what surprises me is that the court came out with other issues that were not part of the submission by complainants. Why did they mention 50+1 in their judgement, why did they conclude that MEC was incompetent and yet accept the Parliamentary and Counsellor results done by the same MEC, nonsense, rubbish conclusion. In addition, they dont have powers to tell the Parliament what to do, no, they dont, they jumped the fence.
Mmmmmmmm waCairo imwe vwesesani vinthu umo viriri. The judges said 50+1is already in the constitution but told parliament to put in place mechanisms that will make 50+1 operrational.
If it is really in the constitution why does it require additional things to make it functional. Why did it fail the supreme court test in the 1990s. Why did it require the use of a dictionary yet the framers of the law are still alive and so are the minutes of their discussions?
@Kadyamthemba if 50+1 is already there then surely mechanisms would have already been there, do u want to tell us that there are some laws in our constitution that has no mechanism to make them operational?
why telling us you are not a judge, you dont know laws bra bra
what you know is about corruption goes about thats why you think hrcc has scone in the mouth, that what you. dpp is full of corrupt individual. you just follow where you see you can fish out money. for someone who says the truth kwainu ndiye kuti wadya banzi. if you dont know how things go about then dont comment just keep quite
There are so many brutes that rush to comment on articles without knowing what they are saying. This article is about HRCC, and yet some castrated bulls commenting here are talking about HRDC. Kupusa!
Covid-19 ndi nthenda yoopsya kwambiri. Ine ndinadwalapo mchaka cha 1999. Inu a Robati Mkwezalamba mupewe ndithu.
Nonses comments.flawed elections are what has brought Africa to the kneels because unworthy crooked people are in authority where health services are in shambles innocent souls dying like flies.Donot justify evil evil is evil will remain evil forever.dream of prosperous Malawi
Muwona nyekwe ,this time palibe kubelaso
Malawi judiciary is rotten. The Hi5 concourt judges are even worse. Nyansi zenizeni. They were bent at punishing DPP and forgot justice. Where on earth did the 50+1 thing appearing in their rulling come from? How can the same MEC be competent in parliamentary election but incompetent in the presidential? How come the Hi5 judges did not find anything wrong with presidential vote figures but they still went ahead nullifying the same based on simple so called ‘irregularities’?
Shame on the 5 opposition judges. You have wasted our time big time. Shame on you backstabbing tumbukas too. Your time is over.
Inu a supreme Court chenjerani. 50+1 munaikana kale so watch out. Rather just rule kuti APM anawina basi and let’s forge ahead.
Now HRDC wants to confuse things. Tripartite for what????
Mnyengo Yomwe anthu aluza kale ntchito mu Tourism Sector 34000 Ndipo Anthu atodandaula kuti Lockdown azadya chani komanso Ma Company Sachosa Anthu Ntchito kamba koluza Business chifukwa cha Lockdown….You could have Expected Mkwazalamba who was a Trade Unionist to Talk about these Worries but No …He wants to Serve his Master’s who have Messed Up this Country …..
Tell Trapence
Trapence is not the One saying Stupid things ….
Above constitutional tally centres were said to be illegal hence all activities carried at such centres are illegal..
You are getting it wrong, MEC did not elections well, the case that was brought before ConCourt was that of presidential election whose constituency is the who country. Individual MPS who felt there were issues with their results they went to court, others lost and other results were nullified. Concourt decided on the case that was before it.
Asyene lyosi says
Truly speaking they said even the results for honorable Chakwera had tipex to correct some mistakes on his MP tally sheet which he(Mr chakwera) didn’t see as a problem and he accepted as an MP because he won but he didn’t accept a tally sheet for presidential results because of tippex on it which was in favor of someone else (Peter) not him. It makes sance here that if the MEC according to concurt judges there was a great mismanagement of the elections then it would be fair to redo the whole process with under compitent leadership, it’s not fair to say yes I did make a urine but not the farses, so tisavomere Zina kukana Zina opposition or government, osavomera kukodza mkodzo but kukana manyi pooona kuti mkodzo is liter than manyi
At least for once HRDC is talking sense. Gotani and her cohort of illegal MPs need to pack up and go.
The corrupt constitutional court judges made such a flawed and biased ruling that they did not want to mention how tippex also affected parliamentary and local government polls. The reason is simple – the judges received bribes to ONLY annul the presidential election results.
You are sick in your head. Court was working on the case that Chilima and Chakwera were complaining so your cadeted style is always a problem. Suka man ungazokhuluma masimba haiiii
Ati ti ma Strategies topasa pressure Supreme Court ….Inu tapangani Zogula ma mask to distribute to vulnerable groups ,those that cant afford …60yrs and above ,those who are Hiv positive…Mmagetomu mzigayo and water kiosks sanitary measures etc ….Ndalama za Corona Zioneke kuti Zikugwira Ntchito…..
The court was ruling on a case brought to them by the a grieved party on the results of the presidential election . individual MP who were not satisfied also brought there on cases to court. It was not a case against the overall election. Use your brain to think before commenting
@ Mzuzu corner did any of the aggrieved parties ask about 50 + 1. No hence it was not ruling in accordance to what was brought to them.
Bakha 🦆
Mtambo should have been the first to highlight this since he calls himself a champion and most knowledgeable.He is a crook, that’s why he has run away.The so called judges say that they ignaled this part because nobody brought it.Bodza how did they bring in so many issues which no one brought to the court.They were Good aat advising .Why not advise that this was a tripite election if missmanaged everything will be nullfied without sellecting.Even a villager is amazed with this.Lets go back to traditional courts.Nyansi ,zoterezi sizingachitike.
Ignalled
Hrcc do not be deceived, in Malawi (Africa) results cannot be universally accepted. The losers don’t concede (except the time when changing from one party system). If dpp wins again expect mcp to go to court. Or if mcp wins dpp will also protest. If mec commissioners are dismissed then we need to hold tripartite elections. We can’t hold all commissioners as failures at the same we accept the result they declared for MPs and councillors. Dismissal of mec should mean nullification of 2019 tripartite elections.
I wonder if the HRCC was properly advised by their legal team, assuming they have any. The Constitutional Court Judges were handling petitions that were before them – challenging presidential, and not parliamentary nor local election results. If any body had issues with parliamentary results or local election results, they would have gone to court within the stipulated period by our Laws. Others did and we have had interesting results of such court cases. Others are still being challenged. Those that are still being challenged were brought before the courts within the legally stipulated period after announcement f the said election results. While logically it is true that the tripartite elections should have been flowed as a whole, legally this cannot happen. Let us not continue spending money on court cases that will not find the light of day, and concentrate on rebuilding Malawi.
If the Supreme Court makes judgement along this suggestion by HRDC, it will add to the evidence that judges are corrupt and making flawed judgements. HRDC, MCP, UTM have now seen that ConCourt ruling is flawed.
This is the problem when corrupt judges give rulings to help some political leaders. Because ConCourt judgement was tailored to punish DPP, the judges have ended up creating constitutional problems. A Tumbuka, Chakwera, Chilima and HRDC – musova.
The Supreme Court is in quagmire because of that flawed COnCourt ruling. First, it does not make sense to annul presidential poll results because tippex was used and yet not do the same with parliamentary and local government. Then comes the problem of reinstating previous MPs. It means all those bills are completely illegal because they were passed by illegal MPs.
Incase you are ignorant on court proceedings, from today you have to know that courts do not act without being asked to act. If court acted and nullified presidential election it is because they were asked to do so by the petitioners. Likewise, in mangochi, there is a constituency that court nullified parliamentary results. It is because someone asked the courts to do so and had enough evidence. Ngati inuyo mwamenyana court silingachitepo kanthu pokhapokha wina mwa inu omenyana atakasuma. Now I wonder why you fault concourt for nullifying presidential election and not parliamentary elections.
HRDC call validates the argument that ConCourt judgement was flawed. The courts have been reluctant to annul presidential and local polls becuase it was in the interest of Chakwera and Chilima to have the presidential poll results overturned.
It’s a HRCC MALUME, Don’t tarnish HRDC image
Did ConCourt rule that there should be tripartite elections? You have started changing the goal posts now.
It seems so.. Changing goal posts indeed.
In any case evidence tendered in concourt was only related to presidents votes so how can one expect a ruling concerning Mps and Councillors.
Some Mps took the issue to courts from their local level ie constituency level and ruling were done.
Our constitution doesn’t have a stand alone presidential election but tripartite. The other thing is byelction for Mps and councillors and there is no byelction for the president
Do we have presidential elections in our constitution?
I know we have tripartite elections in our constitution and that is what was annulled. There shall be tripartite elections not fresh presidential elections.
Tell them Hannah
Malawi should stop to be a batch of fools. Electoral is clear that the complainant of election should move the courts within 7 days after announcing results, which Chakwera did. The parliamentary and council failed candidates did not move the courts within specified time, in this regard they waited 8 months for chakwera to win his battle, then wish to bring their grievances now. It doesn’t exist in electoral law. It is possible for a student to fail other subjects and also pass others within the same exam year. What one needs is to write supplementary for others he has passed.
No parliamentary and council elections
its just a presidential elections this writer is mad,and its not for the president to call for its already there