MEC needs protected funding’

In under seven days, the term of office for commissioners at the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) will expire. As they go, what message do they have? ALBERT SHARRA engages Commissioner Ambassador Reverend  Emmanuel Chinkwita-Phiri, chairperson of the Electoral Services Committee, to give an overview of the four-year term of the commission.

Q:

 Your four-year term as commissioner at MEC comes to an end. How do you summarise the tenure?

A:

We can say that this commission, its work, epitomised holding of the tripartite elections and we now have a government in place. For the first time after so many years, we have local councils and we have a Parliament. The numbers of null and void votes also dropped from record levels to 1.09 percent which is a record not only in this region if not in the world itself.

Q:

There are a number areas that are being proposed for reforms. Of all those areas, which one do you regard as the most crucial that MEC and stakeholders should implement without fail?

A:

MEC needs protected funding. If we are to have elections that are incredible in this country, then every facet of our elections must be funded on time so that come the fifth year of the elections, a lot of work should have been done.

Secondly, by protected fund, we are not saying that MEC will not be accountable, no.

All we are saying is we can have this as a levy on the fuel, one percent or 0.1 percent.  I do believe if we go that way we won’t even need the donors, but if we fund elections as a crisis, you will always waste money because you are working as a crisis, you are not able to compare.  When you are buying things at leisure you are able to get the best deals and you are able to correct things if they go wrong at a minimal cost, but crisis management puts a lot of pressure even if people are well trained.

MEC has well trained staff, but the issue is tools. Give them the requisite resources in time.

Q:

The electoral reforms are not yet finalised.  What is your advice to those involved in the process?

A:

My advice is that those coming in should first study what these reforms are all about. Sometimes, we come in with preconceived ideas and we begin judging things without understanding them.  They should understand that these things came from the people, they want to improve the process of elections and the management itself so that is the starting point. Understanding the bodies that we have worked with particularly when the Law Commission is through and these things have to also go to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.  They will be lobbying at that stage because it is possible to have these things well written and they end up on a shelf somewhere like the 2007 Constitutional Review Report.  I think that will not serve this country well.

Q:

There will be the sixth commission that will be appointed as we are now preparing for 2019 elections.  What is your advice to the new team so that Malawi registers a credible election in 2019?

A:

My advice is that they should take seriously the issue of the Electoral Cycle Approach to elections.  In addition to that, the sixth Commission must start by looking at the current Strategic Plan, which ends in 2017, so that they have one for the next five years and they must start now and should be seamless because as they say, if you do not plan then you are planning to fail.  I am sure they will do well from what others have done.  Thus the best advice I can give.

Q:

Your tenure comes to an end at a time women representation in Parliament is lower when compared to last elections.  What else should MEC do to improve women participation in elections?

A:

Well, I believe that what MEC can do is what we have been trying to do through the electoral reforms process. The way our law stands now, there is no way at which we can meet the Sadc 50-50 or our own Gender Equality Act of 2013.  I believe affirmative action is very important in the electoral reforms even if we retain the first-past-the-post.  There are countries like Kenya and Uganda that have had a fourth ballot in every council and that has contributed to the increase of the number of women.

In addition to that, political parties through their party machinery, regulations and constitutions, they must deliberately make efforts on women participation and if possible that should be something that is within the proposed party registration Act should be regulated as well and that political parties that have no affirmative action should be sent back to the drawing board to look at their constitution once again.

Q:

There is a debate that the electoral system should be changed from first-past-the-post to the two round system known as 50 plus one.  What is your opinion on this?

A:

People say democracy is expensive, but anything less from that then it is no longer democracy.  I think what we need is simply a system that ensures that those that are elected truly represent the representatives of the whole country and 50-plus-one would serve this then let’s go for it. Otherwise, most of the people that are elected are increasingly becoming leaders of maybe a particular region and not of this country.  We need political leaders that have real legitimacy and people look up to them as truly representative of our country.

Q:

The commission will be embarking on a demarcation exercise soon. One issue that is on spot is whether to decrease or increase the number of constituencies and what’s your opinion?

A:

You are raising two issues, one, being political expedient is to maintain the number 193 because we have to go into Parliament and you don’t want to start shooting your foot on something which people will be saying this thing is defeating us.  I am talking about constituencies. In issues of wards, yes, particularly the rural wards, it doesn’t help to have two wards per constituency in the rural areas, it is making those wards look like semi-constituencies and defeating the whole process of decentralisation.

Q:

Any final word or an issue that I may not have tackled?

A:

All I can say is that we can learn by maturing and that we are able to build on what others have done before as a commission, as a country, that way this country will benefit a lot.  Many times we waste a lot of time by tearing down what others started to do instead of building on what others have started.