Protesters for hire: Women confess they were paid to march for Ansah 

Over a month after the disputed May 21 elections, the political standstill in Malawi is getting comic amid revelations that government paid poor rural women to march in support of beleaguered electoral commission chairperson Jane Ansa.

According  to women who spoke to Nyasa Times, most of the marchers got about K3,000 each.

With a reported 2,000 women paid, the government must have burned K6,000,000 of tax payers’ money. Such an amount is enough to supply fuel to run a district hospital for atleast a month.

“To be honest, I didn’t know what I was marching for. I hear it is to do with women but I joined after I recieved K3,000, a t-shirt and chitenje,” said a woman identified as Ida Lupale who was ferried from Thyolo.

Another woman, looking frail, said she was duped of the money by the group leaders but at least managed to get the t shirt although could not say what the words on the t shirt meant.

“Anatotiuza kuti kuli ma kobiri koma ife atiponda. Atipasa malaya okha (Looks I have been duped because it to now now money has been given to me except the t shirt,” said Abigail Mlaviwa, ferried from Chiradzulu.

The DPP government is facing unprecedented pressure from political parties and the civil society calling for the head of Ansa, accusing her of mismanaged of the election in favour of President Peter Mutharika.

Meanwhile, credible information indicate that UTM and MCP have submitted hair-raising evidence on how the DPP rigged the election.

A source close to the case in which UTM and MCP have called for the nullification of the election, says the team inspecting the ballots have uncovered massive evidence of rigging.

“Fake ballot papers were stuffed in advance in ballots and they don’t match with those printed in Dubai. It was a long term orchestrated plan to vote in duplicate. The day this evidence will be made public in court, this country will burn with anger,” said Nyasa Times impeccable source.

Trial for the case starts on July 29 while judgement is expected 21 days later after commencement of the hearing.

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