Malawi polls were manipulated, IT expert demonstrate evidence in court

November 8, 2019 Chancy Namadzunda -Nyasa Times 91 Comments

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) final witness Information Technology (IT) expert Daud Suleman on Friday told the court with evidential demonstration  that May 21 presidential elections results were manipulated by “ghost user” uploaded data  results management system and that Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah rushed to announce the results before they were 100 percent processed by the Results Management System (RMS).

Daud Suleman: Has done his demonstration in court on vote rigging at result management centre

During stimulation before the panel of five judges of the High Courtt sitting in Lilongwe as a Constitutional Court, Suleman demonstrated how the MEC system allowed unkown users to enter into the system capturing and approving results.

“According to the system database, three people were Mr F Chimwaza, Muhabi Chisi and a ghost user who updated the results into MEC system and also another uknown person who approved Dowa East constituency presidential results. This still happens despite the system showing that IT officers captured the results and were audited,” said Suleman.

He said that this was nececiated by having one computer kit being used by two different person at two different places at the same time which is impossible in normal circumstances.

“The kit was in Thyolo and Mulanje and was involved in results manipulation,” he said.

This, according to Suleman, was proved by way of time difference during when the results were being entered and processed in the system.

During simulation, it was discovered that a normal parten of entering results into the system by officials could take about 2.1 minutes against what showed in MEC system that it took only milliseconds.

“What it means is that there were some backdoor activities which were playing with the results and this happened within milliseconds because they already had a template in place. Results were already prepared elsewhere and just loaded in the MEC database,” said Suleman.

The IT expert said it is impossible in human era to use and log in one computer machine that are geographically apart at the same time.

“It is practically impossible for a human being to type all data on tally sheet whitin 1 second,” he said.

He also disclosed that MEC officials had a deliberate ploy to weaken the system by using personalized e-mail addresses such as gmail.com and hotmail.com which is contrary to Public Sector ICT Standards of 2014.

These e-mail addresses, said Suleman, are only accepted to be used for official business only and if the employee shall permit government to access and approve the address, as per ICT standards requirements.

“MEC IT experts being public servants, failed to follow all that when they were using these addresses,” he said adding that there was a ghost user with a [email protected] address who had access to MEC system.”

On MEC chairperson Jane Ansah’s rush to announce results, he told the court that out of 5002 tally sheets, she announced results when the database only processed 3677polling centre votes  which was against thatthe results be announced after the system processing is at 100 percent.

“The system did not finalize processing the results and there was no need to announce them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sulemani will give a final aspect of  demonstration on Monday monring  and he is expected to be cross-examined from afternoon.

UTM Party president Saulos Chilima (first respondent) and MCP presidential hopeful Lazarus  Chakwera (second respondent) w are seeking nullification of the presidential election results over alleged irregularities..

Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
Follow us in Twitter

91 replies on “Malawi polls were manipulated, IT expert demonstrate evidence in court”

  1. DPP supporters you are savages I think , you are empty headed. Silly comments always.
    First you need to understand zithu before committing.
    Malawi wasitha uyu whether you like it or not

    1. Musathe mawu baba remember the other side is to testify before court contradicting what Sulemani has provided as evdence and no body will make judgement except the court so wait until the battle is over after the whistle is rang

  2. The issue is about illegality and irregularity that is what our elections law stipulates that an election can be nullified and the other issue is about equal vote and right to vote enshrined in our constitution. Mind you this is a constitutional court. Even if you tamper with one vote you have gone against the elections law section C if not d. Why I am saying so simple. A question can one win with one vote in our elections if yes then the law can not say if in our election one vote was illegally deleted then there is no problem because you are infringing on the right to vote. Changing figures in the MEC system already qualified to be fraud/rigging or malpractice by MEC officials and may end them in dismissal at work suspension and criminal trial as a remedy. Here Sulemani may have proved fraudulent, rigging and electoral malpractice if it is true.

    The issues in court is an eye opener to seal gaps for future elections that no one should fraudulently be a leader in this country against the will of the people voters. In other country there are electoral courts that approves the elections results after attending to all grievouses. In our system we have given MEC this job. In our reform of elections law we need to think deep.

    Furthermore, according to the UNDP Elections Integrity project, one of the issues is the use of technology in elections management which has become the issue of security and source of violence. We need to put monitoring mechanisms as at the poling station that votes are counted and compiled by all political party monitors, why not at the national tally center to have for example, party or independent Data entry clerks as monitors and even IT expert monitors like Great Daud Sulemani to monitor the system before the results are released. We lack transparency in result management by MEC at National tally center. We treat the information that have been publicly displayed at Kameme at a polling station as confidential at MEC National tally center.

    A QUESTION TO ALL POLITICAL PARTIES WHERE WERE YOU WHEN MEC WAS LAYING THE RESULT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM PROCEDURES.DIDNT YOU NOT FOCUS ON THESE ISSUES SO THAT YOU COULD SUGGEST THE MONITORING MECHANISM AND TRANSPARACY.FOR EXAMPLE, I WAS SHOCKED THAT AT YOUR STALKEHOLDERS MEETING WITH MEC YOU DID AGREE THAT YOU WILL BE LOOKING AT A RESULT SHEET FOR 15 MINUTES.VUTO MUMATUMIZA THE SO CALLED SECRETARY GENERALS AS IF THEY KNOW EVERYTHING AND WORSE STILL THEY DO NOT CONSULT EXPERTS IN VARIOUS AREAS.

    WHAT WE NEED AS A NATION IS TO BE HONEST WITH OURSELVES WE HAVE TRAVELLED A WRONG PATH FOR LONG TIME SINCE DEMOCRACY, ALL OF US, OPPOSITION AND GOVERNMENTS,CITIZENS, INCLUDING MYSELF. WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR MINDSET TO ACHIEVE PROSPERITY.FIRST, WE NEED TO KEEP PEACE AND AVOID HATRED SPEECHES AND COMMENTS EVERY WHERE INCLUDING ON THIS FORUM.LET US PREACH PEACE AND COMMENT FAIRLY WITHOUT BIAS, SO THAT WE BUILD OUR NATION.GOD BLESS MOTHER MALAWI.LET US BUILD ONE NATION.AMEN

  4. Full of assumptions< assumed Ghost posting and changing results< assumed everything
    Dont cheat people< MEC IT officer will clarify and defend what ever Suleman was parroting in Court.
    You MYP Cadres will be disappointed when it will be proved that the man was just demonstrating in theory how
    computer works. Dont rejoice yet, until the actual computer reports will be displayed in Court. Mind you that Malawi voting system is mainly Manual.

    1. Yes it manual, teach them bcoz even Jane alluded to this so much of the evidence will be paper based and not computer-based

  5. There is nothing tangible Suleman Daud is bringing here!!!This is total rubbish he has done here and the cross examination will prove him idiot kkk

  6. In some other parts of the world, election results may take a month to get the final results. Hence , the IT expertise will have all the time to tamper with the results as explained by our IT here , and not in a week while even the results were still coming . This work requires a good management system in place not as ours after all I overheard Amadando that stake holders refused to use computer based results as they come from the field. So, I don’t buy it that the Ghost user worked in milliseconds to turn the figures within this limited space of time.

  8. I hope some comments here are useless as you can see! Cadets please understand the meaning of IT! Just wait you will see Monday. Let me remind you Cadets. Be Cadets without school you are useless! Tell me what you will do with 10000 from Dpp top oficials

  9. Daudi sanawonetse kuti Chakwera anawina then a mec ndi kusintha ma results. Anakatiunza number of votes Chakwera got and tell us how mec changed to favor APM. Alibe umboni. Why MCP Mkaka told court Chakwera got over 2,100,00 votes while Lacks on told court Chakwera got 1.9 million votes yet they were working as one team

    2. Ulenje umasimba wako cadet……uziwona pa town, udazamvetsa nkhwangwa yili m’mutu…anzako anzeru akumvetsa bwino bwino kuti zinasokonekera…..pitaniso kusukulu basi, palibenso mankhwala ayi koma sukulu….

  10. Let’s stand togather as Malawians to fight with this Devils we call Dpp and that fool he call himself a temperary president Mr Tippiex. Am sure we can turn them down.

  11. He needs to demonstrate exactly the affected votes from which centres and candidates at stream level. You can’t just come in court with a hypothesis of how you think if you were to do it this is how it would be done. That’s just a theory, he should break it down and compare the physicall tally sheets against the information that was entered into the system. You can’t prove fraud by saying “I presume this is how you would have done it”. Show us the smoking gun Daud otherwise utitukanitsa makaladife, and by the way did we vote mu system?

    3. Go to school…mkaladi wamtundu wanji mbuli……pita kusukulu kuti umvetse….ngati sitinanvote mu system nanga amalowetseranji musystem a MEC…….pitani kusukulu abambo……umbuli wamkaladi is worse than wamunthu wamba…..

    4. Bwana this what I exactly told some guys today that suleman should tell us the exact figures that were tampered. Other thsn that awa ndi masanje ndi nkhambakamwa.

  15. Kaya amakutini che selemani or sulemani.Ineyo ngakhale i am not an ICT expert koma zomwe mukunena apadzi .Wina aliyense akulira zomwe akananena ndi zimenezi .Nothing new here .Inu che selemani mutaziwa kuti pali Ghost user ,what early action did you take to alert authorities about this syndicate ? Zikuwonekanso kuti nanu mumafuna kuyilowa system ya Mec koma ,nzeru zanu zinachepa ndiye Munalephera .Paja Mayi Jane Ansah anawuza dziko akucheza ndi one of Your trustedMCP propaganda boys Jowab Chakhaza kuti .Mcp itawona kuti madzi achita katondo on 23 May 2019 .Anapempha kuti akumane ndi Jane Ansah pambali koma koma Mayi Jane Ansah anakana. Paja musayiwale kukhoti ,ukagwira munthu akugonana ndi Mkadzi wako ,osachita mphamvu ndi kumulanda malaya ,kukawonesa pa khoti ,pamakhala kuti mulandu palibe umanama .Ndiye inu Che selemani ,mukozeke kuwuza amalawi ,who were this Ghost users that were manupulating results and what percentage was maunupulated .Komanso musayiwale kuti its not only Mec that had these results ,we had MESN which has its own pararrel system and there results were similar to MEC and this was certified by one of MCP boys Timothy Mtambo .On this note may i thank my friend Chimwendo pakuthawa kupeleka umboni ,zinazi umangoyalukapo za ziiii.

    2. Nanga chifukwa chiyani a MEC akukanika kupereka ma documents anagwiritsa ntchito polengeza zitsankho……chifukwa chiyani zomwe zili mu system ndi zomwe analengeza zikusiyana? Chifukwa chiyani amakalowa musystem kukapanga alter ma results atalengeza kale owina? Uyankhe zimenezo mowona mtima?

  17. So what he means is that not all the figures from the tally centres was tabulated. Does he have the evidence?

    Wasn’t there a parallel system in place to monitor the results? Was the MEC system the only one?

    Some of us need to see the evidence to believe this, the simulations are good but they don’t mean anything, give us the log details and the like we should see and conclude by yourself.

    2. Thomas Didimo amateroso………..anzanu opita kusukulu akuyimvetsa nkhaniyi….makani akunyumba kwanu mwati muabweretse kuno…..ngati IT mukuyidziwa ndiye mukukana dala kumvetsa koma ngati mulibe IT knowledge tangopezani ana a pa Technical akulongosolereni kkkk

  18. In this case no need for rerun, the court is supposed to declare the winner because to my understanding, rerun comes when the figures for the candidates are equal. The IT expert will tell us who won the elections and the court will declare the winning candidate… Period!

  20. mcp should learn to use real experts, in this a case a professional forensic expert. some of the arguments are as good as a joke. Claiming knowledge of a system beyond developers takes real guts and courage, no assumptions .

      1. Chilungamo ndi chiti???? Ukadeti ukuphani inu……nkodzo mukuwuwona muli ndi koko uyuuuuuu! Imwanitu kuti mulawe mukhulupilire….kumangokana zili zonse basi…

  21. Obviously, it’s not true that MEC announced results for only 3,677 polling centres. This is less than 75% of the centres. Clearly the witness got it wrong. This would have been noted.

    2. Remember the auditor/DBO indicated that it only verified 60 perc of the results so let’s wait and see bwanji.coz what that means is that MEC announced the results before 40perc was verified.

  23. A warning, not a threat, to Kaphale and Mbeta ; be very careful in your cross examination of Daud Suleiman. Unlike the issue of monitors, you keep on blaming, this is a technical expert witness. Asking him more questions will trigger more revelations of what MEC was doing with computers to change the results. He may even embarrass you during re examination by his lawyers that will keep you on your toes. Please save the little dignity left to your personality. This case has really destroyed your standing as lawyers.

    1. But the good thing is, they are not Malawi. We owe them nothing! This case as the judge said, is for Malawians

    2. Very correct…..the more you cross examine him…the more he provides details for the judges to understand more…..he may even have an opportunity to explain what he might have forgotten on Friday ….khudze nkuyabwe kkkkkkkkkkkk

  24. Mwana iwe. MEC has qualified ITC experts. Dikila uwone ukatha kuwonetsa timademo takoto. Palibe za rerun apa. Waluza waluza!!

    2. MEC did not provide affidavits for any IT expert to defend them, therefore, it is only Mbeta and Kaphale in ‘simulation’ over the weekend …trying to learn IT jargons in readiness for Suleiman…..old dogs do not learn new tricks or they break their backs……

  25. My IT student Sulemani! Bwinotu azimayi antha kukugwetsa. You are handsome. However, mind your profession more than politics.

  29. Here we go, these old fools like peter and jane are killing our future. Let them show us orignal proof as of how did they come to conclusion before getting 100% results.

  32. A service account is used to update any record the database. The so called IT expert has goofed, big time. Ghost user is system account my friend.

    1. At least the little knowledge you have can prove that you are useless, what is ghost account has to do with the national event that has even caused harm to innocent people? If my guess is right, you are a fool.

  33. APA MADZI ACHITA KATONDO..SAKUMWEKA

    MA CADET MULI KUTI KODI APA??? MWATI ZIIIII SULEMAN WAKUTHAMBITSANI

    THE TERMINOLOGY USED AND THE EXPERTISE APPLIED BY SULEMAN HAS EVEN PUZZLED THE JUDGES LERO AKAGONA MITU IKUWAWATU.

    WHO WAS THIS GHOST USER AND WHY???

    I PRAY SULEMAN ..YOU WILL BE ALIVE TO SEE THE FRUITS OF YOUR LABOUR AND THAT NO WEAPONS FASHIONED AGAINST YOU SHALL PROSPER IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS.

  39. What a silly demonstration that is just based on common sense of knowing how rigging could be done. No expertise here as Suleman wants to portray.

  41. I like that the judges have allowed all the evidence be given to the courts so that we know what really happened. When someone says: ” I will never allow so and so to rule this no matter what..” I believe they say that knowing that they will cheat. Who are you to say that you cannot allow someone to rule in Malawi. I know one being and is not human. No man, I do not care who he is or she is can not allow or dis allow anyone to rule this country. So our votes count and whoever manipulated the system must be jailed for they wasted our time when we went to votes. Jane Ansah I hope you are following and when Malawians demand that you must step down you think they hate you. You miserably failed and the other commissioners. Please go quickly.

  42. In the event of a system failure on the end-user side, what do you think would happen Mr Sulemani? Is a manual intervention prohibited??

    1. All stakeholders must come together and agree on way forward……but why, if true, was it done by a few and partisan individuals?

  44. Munazolowera a DPP…..zanu izo undwa………munabera munthu wolakwika……mzimu wa Ambuye ukuyenda…….MUSOVA….next Jane Ansah, Alufandika, Mwafulirwa, Muhabi including all IT MEC staff to be ‘subpoeanad’ ku Commission of Inquiry…….we need to know more which cannot be known now! Reesignation mama Ansah is not enough now…Malawians want to know more as to what and who influenced MEC to easily lose its integrity like that….WHO and WHAT went wrong to the Learnt Judge who is a pastor, church owner and DR for that matter….we need confessions here apo biii wina should be prosecuted and arrested for Negligence of office duties and Almost causing the country to plunge into a Civil war….tension and national damage….

  45. He seems to know what he is talking about. Question is: with all that tech know how why didn’t MCP set up its own parallel tally system? They could have saved everyone time and anxiety by simply producing what they captured as the real reflection from the results!!

    1. I think they have and they will bring them because the Mec has not yet come in to be grilled by the Modicai

  47. I think the ghost worker is a better IT wizard than Sulemani. And since you failed to identify the ghost how can we believe your rushed assumptions and conclusion? You gonna dance during on cross exam son. Even the judges were not impressed that is why they asked you if you have more simulations and emphatically you denied. If i were you i would be sweating now for failing to identify the ghost

    1. The ghost worker in this case was employed by MEC, therefore we don’t need to panic as you are, because we know the reason why they had a ghost worker,

    1. how do you announce the winner when everything is not done yet and why ghost user thieves at its best so a couirt please musachedwe umboni suposa apa

    3. Waiting to see MEC do their own simulation typing and sending data from a tally sheet in miliseconds 😁😂😂koma cross-examination ikavuta heavy. Kaya nde akapanga bwanji refute that waiting in the wings

Comments are closed.