MCP calls for Dausi arrest over MEC arson: Chilima given 7 days ultimatum to reveal more

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has called for the arrest of Minister of Homelands Security, Nicholous Dausi, following revelations that he was behind setting on fire of Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) warehouse in 2014.

MCP director of elections Moses Kunkuyu made the call during a news conference in Blantyre on Thursday following revelations by UTM Party presidential candidate Saulos Chilima.

Chilima, who is also the country’s Vice-President, made the claims during a whistle-stop tour of Chitipa District on Wednesday when he accused governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for being behind the missing of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at MEC offices in Lilongwe on Tuesday this week.

“It is DPP that have stolen the cameras from MEC. We are not surprised because it is the same DPP, led by Nicholas Dausi that set a MEC warehouse on fire in 2014. Let them sue me if they want to. We shall meet in court,” said Chilima, who  was in the governing DPP when, on the night of July 15 2014, fire burnt the warehouse and destroyed some property, including ballot boxes scheduled for a vote recount in a contested Lilongwe City South East parliamentary election.

Addressing reporters in Blantyre, Kunkuyu said MEC should take Chilima’s revelations seriously and that it can vindicates their claims that the 2014 elections were fraudulent.

Kunkuyu said when there were demands for vote recount in 2014, the DPP, which had President Peter Mutharika and Chilima on the presidential ballot, “vehemently turned down such calls, further raising eyebrows by well-meaning Malawians.”

Kunkuyu also gave Chilima seven-day ultimatum to give Malawians a detailed account of what happened in 2014 regarding the torched MEC warehouses.

MEC declared DPP’s Bentley Namasasu as winner of the parliamentary poll with 10 956 votes against MCP Ulemu Msungama‘s 10 854, a difference of 102 votes.

But two days before a High Court hearing of the case, which followed a failed recount due to an injunction restraining MEC from going ahead with the process, the warehouse caught fire.

Hours after the arson, both MEC and MCP said they suspected arson.

University of Livingstonia political commentator George Phiri backed Chilima for revealing the person who was behind the burning of the warehouse and loss of CCTV equipment.

He further warned that Chilima is likely to spill more beans, saying: “I believe we will be having more revelations. We should expect more, especially on corruption.”