Centre for Civil Society Strengthening has reimbursed nomination fees for all female aspirants in Mangochi District contesting for councillor and member of Parliament (MP) positions.
All 45 women vying for local government seats received K100 000 each while 14 women aspiring for parliamentary seats were refunded K1.25 million each.
Speaking in a telephone interview on Saturday after presenting the funds, the organisation’s project officer Sinya Msiska said the initiative seeks to level the playing field and give women a fair chance to compete with their male counterparts.
She said: “For a long time, women have failed to contest for political positions due to financial hurdles compared to men.
“As one way of giving them an edge for the September 16 General Election, we decided to support them in this way.”
Independent parliamentary aspirant for Mangochi South West Constituency Annie King commended the organisation for the gesture.
“We had initially requested the organisation to pay for our nomination fees, but when the payment delayed, we used our own money to pay the Malawi Electoral Commission. We had given up on them. Just three days ago, I was surprised to see the money coming,” she said.
Similarly, Charity Rajab, UTM Party aspirant councillor for Chipunga Ward in Mangochi South Constituency, said the reimbursement will go a long way in addressing campaign needs.
The organisation is implementing Liu la Amai mu Ndale project designed to boost women’s participation in politics with funding from the Embassy of Iceland in collaboration with Oxfam in Malawi
