MEC demarcations confuse constituents and party leaders

There was rare unity between main political parties’ supporters; Malawi Congress Party (MCP), People’s Party (PP) and United Democratic Front (UDF) on Wednesday, February 26 as they presented their grievances against confusion on two registration centres that belong to two constituencies.The team led by senior Group Village Headman (GVH) Martin Ndozi presented their grievances on Monday to an official at the Lilongwe District Commissioners office.

Their major demand is that Tsabango 1 Centre and Dolicasterns School under Lilongwe Central Constituency be transferred to Lilongwe City South East Constituency.“We are not happy for Doricasterns School and Tsabango to be in Lilongwe Central Constituency (Rural) and we want them to be under Lilongwe City South East Constituency,” reads part of their petition, signed by chiefs and party officials from the area. The GVH told Malawi News Agency (Mana) that all along they had been getting development activities through Lilongwe City Assembly and hence the two centres under Tsabango 2 Ward should be transferred to Lilongwe City South East Constituency.“This is very confusing. We have been told that we will be voting for a member of parliament from Lilongwe Central Constituency and at the same time vote a councilor from Lilongwe City South East Constituency,” said Ndozi.

PP shadow councilor for Tsabango 2 Ward, Linda Mpela, concurred with Ndoz saying the demarcation would force people to vote representatives they don’t need.“We have been told by Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) officials that people from this ward who registered at Tsabango 1 School and Dolicasterns School would vote for a councilor under Lilongwe City South East Constituency and a member of parliament from Lilongwe Central which does not make sense,” she said. She then urged MEC to include Tsabango 1 School and Dolicasterns under Lilongwe City South East Constituency.A Mec official told Mana on condition of anonymity that the constituents had a case and blamed MEC for having taken this long to clarify the issue.The source said all along the area in question has been under Lilongwe Central Constituency such that Tsabango 1 centre has been in Lilongwe Central Constituency.

“The confusion is coming in because local government polls and the demarcation does not make sense because it’s like these people belong to two different constituencies. They will have a councilor from Lilongwe City South East Constituency (Tsabango 2 Ward) and a member of parliament from Lilongwe Central Constituency,” said the source.He further said a Member of Parliament from Lilongwe Central Constituency complained that he was failing to initiate development activities in the area (Tsabango 2 Ward) because of the confusion. “The Member of Parliament told us that he was finding it difficult to start development activities like construction of Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) depot.“They would not use money allocated to Lilongwe Central Constituency under Local Development Fund (LDF) for an area which is under Lilongwe City South East Constituency in terms of ward demarcation,” he said.Malawi would hold Tripartite Elections for the first time on 20th May, 2014.



Source: Mana Online