PAC says meeting with Ansah ‘good progress’ in mediation

Public Affairs Committee (PAC), a quasi-religious body formed in 1992 during the country’s political transition from one-party to multiparty system of government,  said its meeting with embattled Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah is “good  progress” in its post-May 21 Tripartite Elections mediation.

In an interview with Nyasa Times after the two hours closed-door meeting, team leader for PAC mediators Archibishop Thomas Msusa of Blantyre Archdiocese of the Catholic Church described the meeting as “constructive”, saying it focused on issues of national interest and electoral reforms as expected.

“It has been a successful meeting as we discussed issues on electoral reforms so as to make elections results accepted by all the competitors and avoid the stalemate,” said Msusa

Msusa, who could not divulge more on the details of meeting, said it marked the final first round series of meetings the body lined up as part of the mediation efforts to resolve the post-election stalemate.

He said it was “good progress” to meet Ansah, saying the first level of dialogue has been  with UTM Party president Saulos Chilima and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera, and President Petre Mutharika.

“We will now go back to the leaders of the parties to discuss issues on what other leaders have raised in the meetings before we come again with second round of mediation talks,” said Msusa.

Msusa, who said his committee would come with the final resolution after the meetings, however, could not indicate when the meetings would end, saying it would depend on the commitment of the leaders.

On her part,  Ansah refused to divulge details of the meeting.

“We actually discussed what PAC wanted us to discuss, or what others told PAC to discuss with us,” she answered while keep on skipping questions from reporters.

The meeting was initially arranged for Mount Soche Hotel but was later shifted to MEC headquarters on security grounds.

The PAC mediation team comprises members from the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM), Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), Quadria Muslim Association of Malawi (QMAM) and Malawi Council of Churches (MCC).

The groupiling  embarked on a dialogue initiative in a bid to pacify the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and opposition parties disputing the May 21 Tripartite Elections results, especially in the presidential race.

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