MCC for role of church conference on polls
Religious leaders under the umbrella body the Malawi Council of Churches
(MCC) have unveiled plans to organise a conference to ponder on the church’s role in the run up to the May 20 Tripartite Elections.
MCC general secretary the Reverend Osborne Joda-Mbewe said this in a press release issued on Friday that the conference seeks to build a consensus between political parties and the Church to ensure parties benefit Malawians not themselves.
The conference is expected to bring together religious leaders from Malawi’s faith mother bodies, including the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), the Quadria Muslim Association of Malawi (Qmam) and the Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) and representatives from all political parties, Malawi Electoral Commission and other electoral stakeholders.
“The conference plans to define and re-assert the role of the Church in an electoral process and consolidate intra-party relations and initiatives within and outside electoral processes,” said Joda-Mbewe.
He said it likely that the meeting will develop and commit to a road map for initiating sound inter and intra-party politics towards good democratic governance and acceptable conduct of electoral processes in Malawi.
Joda-Mbewe said this would help ascertain free and fair, transparent and accountable, credible electoral processes and results, but also give the Church an opportunity to provide a prophetic direction as to why Malawi needs a political atmosphere that is rich in positive democratic governance for the benefit of all.
The Norwegian Embassy through the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) has supported the four-day conference on Consolidation of Democratic Governance and the Electoral Process in Malawi: The Role of the Church, to be held in Mangochi from April 22, 2014.
