Nation newspaper editor brands Ansah ‘person of the year’ for pulling off ‘most successful’ Malawi elections

An editor at Malawi’s leading newspaper, The Nation, Ephraim Munthali has  named Justice Jane Ansah as  Person of the Year , crediting her for successfully handling  the sixth general election after the reintroduction of multiparty democracy in 1993 despite twin major contenders of President Peter Mutharika in the May 21 Tripartite Elections challenging  the credibility of the polls .

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) on Saturday obtained an injunction at the High Court (Lilongwe Registry), ordering the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) not to announce results of presidential elections until a recount of votes in some selected districts is done. while UTM leader Saulos Chilima has called for nullification of the votes.

Ansah, who is judge at the Supreme Court of Malawi, chairs the electoral Commission.

But despite the 2019 elections  headed for an impasse after the commission said it was reviewing several results due to the irregularities, in his published newspaper column, ‘Cut the chaff’ – Munthali saluted Ansah for managing the elections so well.

“I am especially proud and I salute my Person of the Year Justice Jane Ansah for pulling off the most successful election so far,” wrote Munthali.

“Her stakeholder management skills and her detailed grasp of the Malawi Electoral Commission’s (MEC) operational architecture are the stuff of legend. She has run a close-knit and disciplined shop,” the editor of Nation newspaper further wrote in his column.

He continued: “The way she mastered the communication architecture of the commission and her structured communications architecture deserves loud applause. She has been tough, but fair.

“Ansah understood that in an era of fake news, any information gap by the commission could result in disastrous consequences, including loss of lives and property. And so she proactively provided information in near real time.

“She has managed to retain, even improve, the credibility and integrity of MEC, which is likely to make it one of the most trusted public institutions in Malawi. So, yes, Ansah is easily my Person of the Year.”