Last week, President Lazarus Chakwera appointed High Court Judge Annabel Mtalimanja as Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson following the expiry of Judge Chifundo Kachale’s tenure on June 6 this year. Kachale was appointed two weeks before Malawi’s first-ever court-ordered presidential election held on June 23 2020. In this interview, our Mzuzu Bureau Supervisor JOSEPH MWALE catches up with Kachale for flashbacks into what he terms “a difficult job”. Excerpts:
Q: You are officially out of MEC and back to the bench full-time. How do you describe the four years at the helm of MEC?
A: Serving in that office at that critical moment has been a great privilege. I am grateful to God but also the Chief Justice and the Judicial Commission for nominating me and the appointing authority for considering me for that job and indeed for doing it to the satisfaction of the people of Malawi.
I must thank the [MEC] team and cohort. Together, we performed that function to the best of our abilities. Since then, we have done boundary review and managed over 20 by-elections, all of which have been accepted without being taken to court.
Q: Are you satisfied with what you have achieved with your team?
A: Yes, it’s been very great and a very rewarding professional experience for me. For that, I am truly grateful.
Q: You came in at a time when tempers were high, protests against the 2019 Presidential Election were recurring and a fresh election looked inevitable. How did you manoeuver through that chapter?
A: In that moment, you have to come in and ensure that you bring your team together, but also create or earn credibility for the different stakeholders to actually believe that the Electoral Commission was going to undertake an election that was going to be acceptable. The responsibility was very clear on my mind as chairperson to ensure that we create confidence in our team that we could do that job within the time available. We also had to engage stakeholders, including government through the Treasury to provide the funding and Parliament to ensure that the budget that had been appropriated is funded. We also had to engage district stakeholders to explain to them the decisions taken and actions motivating those decisions.
Q: At that time, the country, like many others, was hit hard by the disruptive impact of the Covid-19 emergency. How did you manage the lingering questions about campaigning amid the public health crisis and low confidence in international observers’ role?
A: Remember. we were doing it with Covid-19 public health crisis and there were a lot of questions about doing the elections without international observation. What we adopted was that the elections were for the benefit of Malawian voters and observation was a secondary responsibility. So, in the circumstances, we are grateful that the people recognised and accepted that the law did give us the mandate to manage the polls.
Q: What are your thoughts on the public opinion that you needed to be reappointed?
A: That our tenure would expire was clear from the beginning. This is a four-year cycle, so the planning and everything that went into that took that into account. We have confidence in the team that we have at the secretariat. Out of a team of six commissioners and a chairperson, only three of us have left. This means that there are four people left who were part of the commission. So, I have a lot of confidence in the new chairperson to lead that team and deliver.
Q: What is your call to all stakeholders ahead of the 2025 polls, especially with new leadership at MEC?
A: I have confidence in Judge Annabel Mtalimanja’s integrity and capacity to lead that team and deliver credible polls. My plea is that stakeholders and everybody should give them the opportunity and the goodwill that our team received and enjoyed. It is a very difficult job, but I do believe that they have what it takes to do this to the satisfaction of the people of Malawi. I am very glad that a very worthy successor has been identified to take this good work forward.
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