Malawi army nearly opens fire over ballot papers in Karonga

There is tension building up in the shore district of Karonga following a fracas that occurred Saturday night in which deployed Malawi Defence Force (MDF) soldiers almost opened fire at some civilians and some men donning Malawi police uniform who claimed wanted to verify the authenticity of ballot papers that had just arrived.

Dispatching of ballot papers

Nyasa Times has learnt that the incident, which occurred in Karonga Nyungwe Constituency, raised a lot suspicion on the part of the soldiers who had sensed foul play.

“There were civilians and some people donning Malawi police uniform who came to where the ballot papers were being kept for safety and asked the soldiers that they verify the ballots.

“But when the soldiers got suspicious with the group, the did not allow them to do. The latter could not comply, a development which brought about some turbulence that nearly forced the soldiers to open fire,” said Jordan Simeon-Phiri, Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) stringer in Karonga.

According to Phiri, the situation is still tensed up as the citizenry is “not yet certain” whether the men that donned police uniform were bonafide members of the Malawi Police Service (MPS) or not.

The development comes days following rumors that the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was working on a plot to have its cadets act as security personnel during polling day while donning police uniform.

MPS, through its national spokesperson, James Kadadzera, released a statement quashing the rumors as “false.”

On Sunday, UTM Party presidential torchbearer, Saulos Chilima, also made allegations that he was aware of the presence of one Augustine Chihuri—Zimbabwe for Commissioner General of Police—who was in the country, hired by the DPP, to deploy the party’s cadets who would work as MPS “impersonators” on Polling Day.

Chilima demanded that Chihuri must “must leave this country immediately.”

Meanwhile, there is also more tension in Karonga over a satellite polling centre at Karonga Prison where no voter is said to have registered.

“There is no one who registered there. There is no presiding officer. Who is going to vote there? There is another polling centre at the old Karonga Hospital which is just 20 metres away. There is something fishy going on,” said Andrew Mwakaseghe.

But Nyasa Times has learnt that ballot papers have been dispatched to the ghost centre.

Pollster MEC chairperson, Jane Ansah, is expected to hold a presser Sunday afternoon over some of the on-going electoral developments.

Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :

Sharing is caring!

Follow us in Twitter
32 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Kalulu
Kalulu
4 years ago

Makes you wonder. There has been a lot of tension leading up to this moment. There is deep underhanded tactics in Karonga if we go buy the last general election results. You don’t to be Einstein to see what is going on.

Kanyimbi
Kanyimbi
4 years ago

Mai Ansah bwanji akutumiza ma ballot paper ma centre awiri omwe anthu sanalembetsepo why why Mai awa akutiopsyano tsopano.

Aka
Aka
4 years ago

Operation Landslide Rally

mulumuzana
mulumuzana
4 years ago

mdf is our benevolent force….they are Malawians coming from our respective homes. their concerns are our concerns too…but as we tackle this we need to look into this issue without spectacles in our eyes….we have heard speeches from the winning CHILIMA that our mdf soldiers are being robbed their own sweat of risk allowance of over 14 million per person by fellow senior mdf officers and instead our strong and courageous soldiers are getting only 12 to 13 mita in sometimes four phases when other soldiers from other countries are getting a UN money equivalent to 28mita MK….it is very… Read more »

John swazt
John swazt
4 years ago
Reply to  mulumuzana

Exactly

Tizanka
Tizanka
4 years ago

Nosense reporting like this starts civil wars. Such irresponsible cunts

Mbuya
Mbuya
4 years ago
Reply to  Tizanka

Which nosense T…..reporters should just report what is on the ground and we will judge as Malawians

Ngani
Ngani
4 years ago

aaaaa kodi uyu muti wa UTM mesa amatchalenja kuba ameneyi mesa ndamene anabera ma vote 2014 kuti Peter awine nde lero akunva pain bwanji azinzake akumubelaso.

mtete
mtete
4 years ago

Could even be that MEC senior officers, including the Chairperson, are part of the rigging scheme. Why send the ballot papers to a Ghost Polling Centre.
You see, DPP’s strategy has been to bankroll police, MDF, MEC, you name it. DPP can afford that as they have dubiously amassed lots of money

Gerald Mapanga Phiri
Gerald Mapanga Phiri
4 years ago

If you remember my comments. I said it was too early for MEC to tell people that there will be no fraudulent election. Thieves are always ahead on their plan. It will be worse than 2014 election prepare that. More chaos is coming

Malemu Pulofesa Kuba K145 mita

We would all want to see the back of dpp and Malemu Pulofesa Arthur Peter Mutharika. We were happy take UDF leave the stage when Bingu left it. That’s one of the reasons why Bingu won the second term. I am now beginning to doubt if that was a genuine landslide victory for Bingu.

mzaliwa
4 years ago

Must be a big fool, wise voting

concerned citizen
concerned citizen
4 years ago

zachitika ku Karonga zi most likely sikokhako ayi. Its possible zikuchitikanso elsewhere in the country. Election monitors onetsetsani kuti izi sizikuchitika mmadela mwina dziko lonse la Malawi. A MEC musatibetsele voti yathu. Mabalot papers amene akupita ma centre osadziwikawo awapatsa ndi ndani. Show Malawians if the prison polling center is genuine. Malawians, we must demand that MEC gives us the information on the official total number of polling centres in the country. All contesting parties should be given a record of the official registered polling centres. Apobi,chinyengo chikhalapo. If prisons are not supposed to be poling centres, let the party… Read more »

Read previous post:
Chakwera promises to transform Malawi, upbeat to win race for State House

Malawi Congress Party  (MCP) presidential candidate Lazarus Chakwera on Saturday held a final  campaign rally at Kamuzu Institute for Youth...

Close