UTM on MEC Commissioner Jean Mathanga’s neck over rigging claims

United Transformation Movement (UTM) has demanded an apology from Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Electoral Services Committee Chairperson, Jean Mathanga for alleging that its party President Dr. Saulos Chilima is intending rig the forthcoming May 21 tripartite.

Mathanga is quoted in the Daily Times on Wednesday Chilima making serious rigging claims against the ruling Democratic Progressive party (DPP) while he is the one intending to rig the votes.

“There is a politician who has been going to town claiming that there is a rigging machine that was brought into the country. We called him to help us in tracing the machine and investigating the syndicate, but he never turned up.

“We know that that is work of those who would really want to tamper [with] and disturb our system, but we are not sitting down. We have put in place measures that will help in securing the votes,” Mathanga said.

But reacting to the claims, UTM spokesperson Joseph Chidanti Malunga said the party is deeply shocked with careless remarks by Mathanga.

 “The UTM Party has learned with shock from the Daily Times Newspaper of 1st May 2019 that the Honourable Electoral Commissioner Mathanga, a nominee of the Democratic Progressive Party to the Malawi Electoral Commission spoke to the press and made a veiled allegation that our President, who once warned about the presence of a device intended to be used for rigging the election by the Democratic Progressive Party, intends to tamper with and disturb the MEC’s system for handling the election results.

“The UTM Party find this deplorable coming from an Electoral Commissioner who despite her partisan appointment should display a higher sense of duty to the nation by, among others, not peddling political propaganda under the auspices of the Malawi Electoral Commission,” said Malunga in a statement.

He added: “The tripartite elections coming this month are a serious matter. It is expected that the body and the individuals entrusted with managing the election will not plant the seeds of baseless suspicion and popular disenchantment with the electoral return. It is utterly irresponsible for a whole commissioner to join her party’s propaganda which she must know better has no basis in truth.

“For the avoidance of doubt, our Presidential candidate, the Right Honourable Saulos Klaus Chilima has consistently assured Malawians that no one will be allowed to rig the elections as long as he and the UTM party exist, relying on nothing more than eternal vigilance, which every other participant in the election and the nation at large must have, to ensure that the collective will of the nation is not defrauded through theft of the electoral return.”

Malunga has since demanded an apology from Mathanga.

“The UTM party demands an unconditional apology from Honourable Commissioner Mathanga for her careless remarks to the media, breaking the well-known channel of Communication from the esteemed Malawi Electoral Commission. We also cordially call upon the MEC Chairperson to distance MEC from the careless remarks made by Commissioner Mathanga.

“Further, we wish to state it without fear that if Honourable Commissioner Mathanga cannot live up to level of responsibility required of a Commissioner, she may well consider stepping down and join the political race as a candidate at whatever level she may prefer,” he said.

Effort to talk to Mathanga proved futile.