Malawi Electoral Commission concedes poll laptop missing: PAC, CSOs want action
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has finally conceded that the pollster is missing a laptop computer used in the voter registration exercise.
MEC chief executive officer Sam Alufandika said the laptop computer went missing in Mzuzu as voter registration clerks wanted to go for the final phase of the registration exercise.
“In fact, it is only the laptop which is missing. It has nothing. By the time it was stolen, it had no information, we had emptied everything because we wanted to use for the last phase of the registration exercise,” he said.
He said a crucial gadget used in the voter registration exercise along with the laptop computer was not stolen.
A police report based on information submitted to Mzuzu Police Station by MEC electoral services officer (logistics) Tyson Magalasi, shows that the equipment was part of the larger consignment transferred from Chitipa to Mzuzu on October 23 2018.
The report shows that the theft occurred between October 23 and October 24 at Katoto Secondary School hall in Mzuzu, which MEC is using as its warehouse.
Alufandika described the missing of the laptop computer as petty theft, saying it can be used just like any other laptop computers, saying there was no need for people to panic because all the data was secured before it got stolen.
“.It has missed in between retrieval and deployment. That laptop cannot work on its own. It cannot register anybody on its own,” he said.
He said police are now looking for it and urged people to stop making malicious allegations against MEC on the theft of elections equipment, saying only two so far were stolen and one was found.
The MEC boss said the malicious allegations have potential to put off voters from registering for the forthcoming elections.
Alufandika said issues surrounding the missing equipment and status of voter registration would be discussed at a National Elections Consultative Forum (Necof) meeting scheduled for Lilongwe on Wednesday that is also open to the media.
Revelations of the missing registration equipment accessories have drawn criticism of MEC, with the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) and Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) accusing the electoral body of failing to explain circumstances leading to the missing equipment and implications and added their voices to calls by Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) for MEC chairperson Jane Ansah to resign for alleged negligence.
“The fact that the machine was transported using a truck that belongs to the OPC [Office of the President and Cabinet] raises alarm. MEC should have explained that urgently after the loss because people already are very skeptical about whether elections will be free and fair next year, saud PAC publicity secretary the Reverend Father Peter Mulomole
CCJP national coordinator Boniface Chibwana blamed MEC for not being proactive to report about the missing equipment to police and electoral stakeholders ,considering that electoral issues are emotive.
MEC has ruled out the possibility of data in the biometric registration kit found in Mozambique being used to rig the 2019 elections, saying the information in the machine was for civic education and not voter registration.
The rigging concerns come against a background of remarks by Vice-President Saulos Chilima during the launch of the United Transformation Movement (UTM) in Lilongwe in July that there was a ‘spy machine’ to be used for vote rigging.
In the current situation, the public opinon is much against MEC leadership and Malawians have lost trust that the commission would deliver a credible elections.
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What has happened to Honourable Vice President Chilima promise or if he like threat to expose rigging by DPP?
Is Chilima all words and no action? Just firing blanks? Truth is Chilima is ow tongue tied and has lost his ability to speak. He is silent. This proves that Chiluima cannot deliver. Talks about creating one million jobs, but Chilima cannot explain how he will do so. The man is a cheater and liar. All words no action. Malawians dare Chilima to expose the methods for rigging!!!!
Stop being a coward. Or his in Darkness Democracy Dies right, you cannot expose rigging because you were the rigger of the last elections
Malawians , if we let this thing go as easily as MEC is trying to make it look like, I want to assure you that surely, our vote will be stolen. We should demand evidence based explanation. Lets have a neutral IT expert examine the recovered equipment to prove if what MEC officers are telling Malawians is true.
Kodi chibwenzi cholipobe ndi pumbwa?Ku mec kuli zitsiru zokhazokha zosafunila ana awo zambwino maso ali pa ndalama.Remember God is looking everywhere you’re.Your plans will never succced.
Honourable Vice President Saulos Chilima it is for you to expose how APM and DPP and MEC propose to rig the elections. You will recall that promised Malawians that you would expose rigging so please live up to your promise and expose DPP. Only you Sir and BB can to stop the rigging by telling the nation what you know. As both you and BB were both involved in rigging the last elections. You can become a poacher turned gamekeeper and the nation will owe you a debt of gratitude.
Apuphwa are given role to organise election. If you put useless people to run your system you get useless out. Now get the smell
Thats childish talk. Alufandika and MEC are not serious. They are incompetent and deserve to go. How can you talk like a child. Why report to Police if its petty theft. You guys in MEC are not helping and have proven to be people who are really not interested in the welfare of Malawi. So its ok for the things to be stolen.
Malawians wake up. This can only happen in Malawi. For how long are we going to allow these incompetent people to continue sitting in that Office.
All wat they are interested in is money for tgem and their loved ones not the entire Malawi. Shame on you.
We need malawi back from crooks.
Mr. Alufandika, your explanation does not add up. Every gadget within MECs work was deployed for a purpose. Do not tell us stories which do not give the mass hope. You MEC seem to be in a panic, why? There is something you would want done but has been foiled. Simply, you have failed, let others take over. The entire system needs overhauling. MEC MUST FALL period
This madness must stop! The madness to justify that there was no crucial information in it. That is rubbish assertion for the wise ears.
The last person to have used the laptop is not being mentioned WHY? The storekeeper for the warehouse/office where the laptop was being kept is not being mentioned WHY? Who were the watchmen or those keeping custody of such things? WHY WHY shield these culprits? Million questions go unanswered! No matter how much you will clean up, things will not just get cleared in the near soon
They downplaying everything…. any security breach is a sign that this MEC cant handle these elections! All equipment, data must be 110% secured for a free and fare credible! MEC come out with your errors and apologise tell the nation what you will do to insecure more tight security from now onwards and The Head should resign with integrity basi!!
Who are these MEC guys fooling?
Ku MEC kuli anthu ooooooopsa kwambiri!!
Bububu ngati iwe how can you say the machine was empty yet you know it was once used? Do you know that deleted information can be retrieved [from a computer] by IT experts and a good example is how the cash-gate related K577 billion and later K236 billion worth of information came into being!! Is MEC not aware that accounts officers plus senior officers in government believed they successfully deleted the data from computers only to wonder when IT experts resurrected the data they though deleted?
Inu zitsiru kwambiri, who do you want to hoodwink!! Just accept that you’ve successfully served your masters, period!
CSOs and election stakeholders don’t accept this nonsense please!!!!!! Zoooooooooona mukufuna zizitilamula ndi dziwanthu zoopanda vision, dzimbamva zanuzooooooooooooo? Mxiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii basi iweyo alufandika wati ndikayankha ndine wati utitayilepo nthawi ndi nyonyonyonyonyooooooooooooooooooo wakoyoooooooooooo, forsake!
Why would you need a laptop (biometric-linked) for civic education. ukanama sikuchedwa kucha. MEC is piling lie afetr lie and now they’re caught out in their own lies. The bottom line is that the computer software had remote access to the main MEC server with biometric data for over 6m people. It is not enough to state that the laptop wasn’t in any way part of biometric registration. Mr alufandika, please state the truth and it will set you free. Just ask for forgiveness from Malawians for MEC’s tardiness. You’ll be embarrassed when Chilima is able to demonstrate to Malawi how biometric data was compromised (this is IT….it has a way of keeping an auditable trail).
Moral of the story: If you want to steal a MEC gadget, make sure it has been emptied of all vital information first.
Which Malawians who have lost trust in MEC? I am a Malawian but I have not lost trust in MEC. There are over 18 million people in Malawi. Did all of us tell you that we have lost trust in MEC? When less than a thousand disgruntled people say that they have lost trust in MEC does that also include 17+ million Malawians who have not expressed their views?
Who doesn’t know that the missing of the MEC registration kits is all but politics to discredit the MEC and also to divert the #Chilimamustresign calls? There are mercenaries at MEC. They are the ones doing all this job. Personally, I agree that Jane Ansah is dumb. By now she could have already pin-pointed the bad apples and take them to court for negligence before firing them. But yeah, we have a dumb lady here.
Someone knows that come rain or sunshine, Malawians will never vote for them. They know that they have already lost the race. And the only thing they can do is to destroy the credibility of MEC. Bad losers! That’s what you are. Koma Mulungu ngati chala chake sichinaloze inu, ayi ndithu olo muzichekecheke ndi mpeni or mulire kwambiri siziphula kanthu. You have already lost basi.
Honourable Vice President Saulos Chilima it is for you to expose how APM and DPP and MEC propose to rig the elections. You will recall that promised Malawians that you would expose rigging so please live up to your promise and expose DPP. Only you Sir and BB can to stop the rigging by telling the nation what you know. As both you and BB were both involved in rigging the last elections. You can become a poacher turned gamekeeper and the nation will owe you a debt of gratitude.
This concerns are taking away the trust of Malawians if the elections will be accountable and transparently. So MEC have to assure people to have confidence in them.