MEC trains Multiparty Liaison Committees members on conflict management
The Malawi Electoral Commission(MEC) has trained 136 members of Multiparty Liaison Committees (MPLC) on how to manage conflicts and solve disputes.
The training workshop which started on Thursday and has ended today (Friday) was attended by a total of 136 MPLC members from Mangochi, Balaka, Machinga, Zomba districts.
Speaking during the training in Machinga, MEC Commissioner, Elvey Mtafu said MPLCs are important because they make easy the work of the commission.
“We have had positive results from the establishment of MPLC. We no longer get as many complaints as before, most conflicts are now solved at district level,” said Mtafu.
Mtafu further reiterated the commission’s commitment to deliver free, fair, transparent, inclusive and credible tripartite elections in 2019.
She added that it is important to include youths in such trainings because they are mostly used to commit violence.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Governor for Machinga district, Joeman Kandodo concurred with Mtafu on the importance of MPLC in the electoral process.
“All political parties are part of this committee and this will enable us to collectively end political violence in our respective districts,” said Kandodo.
Apart from political parties’ representatives, other delegates included representatives from Public Affairs Committee (PAC), National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE), Malawi Police Service, District Commissioners and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) among others.
PAC representative Alhaji M’bwana also agreed that MPLC has helped to minimize political violence.
“The training has also helped MPLC members from various districts to share ideas on how to run the affairs of the committees in our respective districts,” said M’bwana.
MPLC was established in the year 2000 to monitor adherence of electoral laws by electoral stakeholders, Investigate reports on suspected violations of electoral laws, monitor conflict indicators and recommend rapid response mechanisms, to hold hearings and make determinations on all reported violations and publicize rulings participate in the implementation of crucial electoral activities at district level like civic voter education among others as well as make recommendations to the commission on conflict prevention measures.
Currently voter registration is underway in the country and 4 655 941 voters have already registered.
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