Political scientist suggests city residents should be voting in council polls
A renowned political scientist has suggested that a law should be amended to allow residents vote in city council elections.
Boniface Dulani of Chancellor College, a constituent of the University of Malawi, said election results in Blantyre indicate that residents were not happy with the loss of Noel Chalamanda as Mayor.
Wild Ndipo of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the election.
“Residents seemed not to have been happy with the results. They wanted Mr Chalamanda but political parties had their own candidates in mind,” he said.
He then suggested the laws can be changed so that residents should be voting especially in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu, the country’s major cities.
Dulani said the same happens in South Africa and the US where mayors are elected into office by residents through votes.
In Malawi, councillors and members of parliament elect mayors and deputy mayors.
Ndipo says he will continue with development projects left by Chalamanda, saying after all, he was deputy mayor when the hard working and creative Chalamanda was mayor of the commercial city.
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There is sense on what Fulani is saying. Mayors and Councillors when votes into power are supposed to save the needs of tge majority at the villages. This being the case, ita good that the local citizens should be given chance to choose the candidates that have performed inccordance with their needs.
Don’t ask for rules to be changed merely because someone has lost elections. Direct election of a mayor like is done in London is good. However, in Blantyre or Malawi’s case, people like Dulani are suggesting this out of vindictiveness.
Before Chalamanda, the story was always the city council has no money. year in year out. Now , When chalamanda came in we started to see things changing for the better. The question is, Where was Chalamanda getting the money that was being used to improve the status of the city? Zamveka kuti ma councilor amati during Chalamandas time sanali kudya . Akufuna kuti azidya ..Wokumva wamva . So, the idea of having city residents involved in the voting process will go along way to vote people of integrity in council key positions like that of Mayor.
Even in Zambia, they changed the Law so that Mayors voted for by the residents of the Municipality. The status quo in Malawi leads to the residents getting a short end of the stick since councilors are mayors are viewed as a threat by the MPs.
Dulani is lying. Mayors are elected by councillors even here in South Africa not residents. Or has he been misqouted? It’s clear he’s a fan of Chalamanda. He was a good mayor. But he failed to win the support of his fellow councillors. It’s difficult to win as a mayor in mayoral election because of political party domination. For example, ANC lost mayoral elections to DA in Johannesburg and Pretoria because it was supported by EFF. Residents were NOT involved. Please don’t lie. Nyasa times, why do you ask the same people? Do you think Dulani is the only political… Read more »
Ine ndikugwirizana nazo,zomwe katakwe pandele akunena chifukwa anthu ndiamene amaona ntchito za meya wawo,pamene akamavota okha zimalowa katangale –
Good ideas from good man Dulani