Economic Justice & Accountability Ambassador for All-African Conference of Churches (AACC) in Malawi, Rev. Buxton Maulidi has strongly appealed to Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and the Government not to ignore calls being made by various stakeholders asking for free and fair 2025 general elections.
In an interview, Rev. Maulidi, who is also Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Blantyre Synod Deputy General Secretary, said religious leaders have observed that some electoral stakeholders believe the government intends to rig 2025 elections through dubious awarding of contract to foreign companies and procurement of electoral devices.
These claims -- made by opposition parties, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) and UTM -- have, however refuted by Minister of Information & Digitalisation, Moses Kunkuyu at a press briefing on Friday at Malawi Sun Hotel in Blantyre.
According to a report by Malawi News Agency (MANA), Kunkuyu described the opposition parties' concerns towards the 2025 elections as baseless, saying it was surprising to note the parties question electoral procedures and the law which legislators passed in Parliament to guide the country's elections.
The Minister also said it was also surprising that the opposition parties question the appointment of MEC chairperson Justice Anabel Mtalimanja, saying when she was duly proposed by the Judiciary and appointed by the authority as is always the case with such appointments.
"One would doubt whether the opposition has taken the new way of thinking," Kunkuyu said and added that the MEC chairperson "is always appointed in a transparent and legally accepted procedure".
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On the opposition party's intentions to hold national wide demonstrations, Kunkuyu said it was unfortunate, emphasising that "dialogue remains a preferable approach".
"Dialogue is necessary to avoid unnecessary confrontation and chaos," Kunkuyu said while acknowledging that everyone has right to express feelings.
The Minister has since encouraged eligible Malawians to get registered in readiness of the 2025 general elections.
But Rev. Maulidi emphasises that MEC and the government should not ignore the concerns being made by the various stakeholders since they are asking for free and fair 2025 general elections.
He added that there is need for total partnership to ensure that there is transparency and accountability in the whole electoral process.
"The electoral process is governed by the Republic's Constitution and it provides that all stakeholders should be involved in its execution," he said. "If there are views of dissatisfaction from other stakeholders, MEC should listen to such calls.
"As a religious body, All-African Conference of Churches, takes justice and accountability very serious because our objective is to see to it that Africa is transformed economically, politically and religiously.
"If others are not satisfied with Malawi's 2025 electoral process, then we strongly appeal to MEC, the government and all other stakeholders to seriously listen to their views and work towards rectifying the concerns so that we have free and fair elections."
Rev. Maulidi thus called for accountable and demographic transparency in the voter registration process on the part of the MEC ahead of the 2025 elections.
