Voter registrations cards for sale: Two nabbed with 64 voter IDs
Police in Ngabu, Chikhwawa have arrested two people who went around buying voter registrations cards from about 64 people at undisclosed amount.
The two, Patrick Losi 40 years old and Fred Njanji 37 years, both from Tchochola village, T/A Ngabu, Chikhwawa from the 3rd of this month, went around in the villages of Sande and Tchochola in the district buying voter registration cards before were apprehended on Saturday August 17.
In an interview, Southern Region police Public Relations Officer, Nicholas Gondwa disclosed they managed to apprehend the two following a tip-off earlier this month and that they are currently in custody pending court trial.
Gondwa said the two confessed during interrogation to be agents of unnamed political party, which had sent them to collect the voter registration cards for its own database.
“We arrested them on August 17 after two weeks of investigations. About 49 people have been questioned but they are refusing to disclose how much they pocketed for each card, instead they are claiming to have given them out for free,” said Gondwa.
He added: “And the two suspects are not disclosing who sent them. They claim to have been sent by a certain political party they are refusing to disclose, for unknown reasons, to collect the cards from people their own voters roll”.
Meanwhile, Gondwa said they have decided to turn those who sold out their voter registration cards into State witnesses.
Losi and Njanji are exacted to answer charges of act likely to provoke or promote violence during campaign or registration period contrary to Section 115 of the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Act of 1993 as well as Section 98 of the Local Government Elections Act of 1996.
The offence attracts a minimum court fine of K50,000 or a seven-year jail term.
