Yes, who has the last laugh now? I mean between the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Justice Annabel Mtalimanja and the opposition comprised of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), UTM Party and the Alliance for Democracy (Aford).
On October 16 2024, at a press conference the three political parties addressed in Lilongwe, they accused Mtalimanja of planning to steal the September 16 2025 General Elections through a company known as Smartmatic International Holding B.V. (Smartmatic). This is the company that MEC has hired to supply Election Management Devices (EMDs), and the Election Management System Software (EMSS). The parties alleged that this company is of questionable integrity and has allegedly been involved in electoral malpractices in Venezuela, the Philippines, Kenya, and other countries that were not mentioned.
MEC has powerfully debunked the two accusations. First, it says there is no evidence Smartmatic was involved in electoral fraud anywhere. Secondly, and more importantly, Mtalimanja was nowhere near MEC when the Netherlands-headquartered firm was hired. Here, I argue that if the opposition is to be credible to command the respect of Malawians, it must always come with hard and undeniable facts and not petty issues or mere emotions.
Since the change of leadership at the helm of MEC, opposition political parties, particularly DPP, have come very hard on Mtalimanja and MEC chief elections officer Andrew Mpesi wanting them to resign. For Mtalimanja, they say she should resign from her position because she is a daughter of a former Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president, the late John Tembo, and Mpesi because he once worked as a monitor for the party or something.
The process of hiring the company to supply EMDs and EMSSs which resulted in the identification and subsequent contracting of Smartmatic started in March 2022, and ended on March 24, 2024 when the firm was awarded the contract. We all know that the MEC chairperson at that time was Justice Chifundo Kachale. His term of office alongside two other commissioners ended on June 6 2024.
President Lazarus Chakwera appointed Justice Mtalimanja as new MEC chairperson and two other commissioners on June 7, 2024 to mark the beginning of a four-year term for them. They were sworn-in by the Chief Justice Rizine Mzikamanda SC on June 21 2024. As anyone can see, Mtalimanja joined MEC three months after Smartmatic had been contracted to deliver EMDS and EMSSs.
So just where do our esteemed opposition get the mettle to stand before television cameras and tell Malawians that she hired Smartmatic to steal the elections? This is the problem of taking things from social media as gospel truth.
This shows three things. They say there is strength in unity, but the three opposition political parties are failing to harness this power into a formidable force that can expose real challenges on the road to September 16 2025. At least someone in three parties should have told the group that playing the Smartmatic card would leave them with eggs on their faces. Now they look just like that. DPP has a minimum of two commissioners in the electoral body. What are they for if not as their window into the goings-on at MEC?
It also means the opposition parties do not just want Mtalimanja but are clueless on a strategy to get her out. So they are just fumbling for what to do. The argument that Mtalimanja cannot be impartial because she is a daughter of the former Malawi Congress Party president has no legal basis.
The three opposition political parties must be regretting and laughing at themselves after reading the MEC chairperson’s well-argued and bold statement debunking their accusations. They must swallow humble pie. Going forward, they should avoid holding joint press conferences where the members get taken up and only succeed in outwitting each other on bashing MEC. And unfortunately, they end up speaking not with their heads but emotions.
