No woman candidate for PP in Nsanje
No single female aspirants has emerged a winner in all 10 ward and Five Constituencies for Nsanje District during the ruling People’s Party (PP) primary election conducted recently amidst 50-50 male and female campaign representation.
Harry Genti who is the party’s District Governor confirmed in an interview .
However, he attributed the women aspirant failure to make it in the party’s primary election, owing to lack of confidence and skills that can enable one to wool more support from voters.
“No female aspiring member of parliament and ward councillor has worn in our party as far as Nsanje District Primary Elections is concerned. I should suggest most of them lacked confidence and strategies to wool people to vote for them in the primary elections,” Nsanje PP District Governor said.
The results indicate that former Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Sam Ganda flops to Lawrence Sitole with 6,535 against 4,219 votes.
The former parliamentarian Macline Ndafakale was given another chance to stand as PP aspiring MP for Nsanje South West who beat Carol Chomanika Khunga, who works as Project Officer for Joyce Banda Foundation International with 4,442 to 1,318.
Sam Safuri rise to stand as PP candidate in the coming 2014 for Nsanje Central, scooping 2, 493 against Yusuf Mpensa who managed to get 2,015 votes.
Yafet Phekani is the PP’s 2014 Parliamentary Candidate for Nsanje South while Enock Chizuzu if voted come 2014 tripartite election will be PP Parliamentarian for Nsanje North.
Reacting to the results that no female aspirant has worn in the PP primary elections in Nsanje, Patrick Fred who is the District Coordinator for Association of Progressive Women; an organisation which is championing the 50-50 women and men representation campaigns in the district acknowledged the results but blames PP party leaders in the district of infringing women chances to excel in the primaries as a result of unfair conducts which were happening during the primary elections exercise.
“The primary elections were not free and fair. There were a lot of irregularities. The male aspirants were having more conducive environment and were provided a chance to destroy voting procedures by developing parallel systems that hinders female’s aspirants chances hence they did not manage to create crooked means of getting more votes as men aspirant did,” said Fred.
Fred further faulted the election system PP used in the primary elections which he described as ‘strange’ saying it allows everyone, even those who pretend to be PP party members to vote.
“In most of the areas there was no rational of checking the real party members legible to vote, this put female candidates at risk of losing because the male candidates have no fear to wool everyone to vote,” he said.
The 50-50 male and female representatives campaign Officer for Nsanje further said his organisation will forward a report to the parties with pictures, to exhibit the unfair dealing that perpetrate the primary elections.
In her remark, one of the PP female aspirants in the district Carol Chomanika Khunga downplayed the support the 50-50 campaigners gave them and described it as verbal not material.
“The 50-50 campaign will not materialise looking at things on ground. Most of women aspirant have lost PP primaries countrywide. The support we get even in the primaries from 50-50 campaigners is not enough. The campaigners only conduct meeting instead of giving us materials,” said Chomanika.
Chomanika said she will not forward her support to the current PP winner Macline Ndafakale in the coming 2014 elections although she is still a party member but to the president only saying Ndafakale is a failure and cannot bring something new to the constituency.
“The primary elections did not go well. I have forwarded my complaints to senior party officials, challenging them. But, if the party official decides that the results should remain valid that Ndafakale has worn, I will not stand as independent candidate. Instead, I will only support president Joyce Banda and the party except Mr Macline Ndafakale, since he has worn this primary election with dubious means and worse still cannot assist the party to achieve the desired more parliamentarians results,” she said.
But the rival Ndafakale belittles the claims by her opponent and quashed them saying there was no way irregularities can take place in the presence of monitors and presiding officers who were charged with responsibilities of supervising the elections in all centres.
“I was once a member of parliament of the same area from 1999 to 2004, people have trust in me. They knew the development I have been rendering to the community and winning in this primary election is a true reflection. I therefore ask my opponents to cease the issues of irregularities she is speculating and forge ahead assisting our party to win, come 2014 tripartite elections,” said Ndafakale
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