MEC commissioner Kunje irks MPs for ‘rudeness,’ slams exit door in anger

Malawi Parliament’s Public Appointments Committee (PAC) which is conducting a court sanctioned inquiry for the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) on Tuesday afternoon sent out of the hearing room commissioner Linda Kunje for rudeness to the legislators.

As she stormed out of the room at parliament building in Lilongwe, she slammed the exit door in anger and further show of rudeness.

After five minutes or so, she was called back into the room.

PAC chairperson Collins Kajawa cautioned Kunje against rudeness and answering questions evasively.

Kajawa told her told her to observe respect, protocol and decorum when answering the questions at Parliament Building in Lilongwe, broadcast live on radio.

She then continued answering the questions though evasively, the responses which will make the committee make recommendations to the President either to fire the commissioners or retain.

However, she attracted the members’ wrath when she openly told the members of parliament, saying the incompetence and Tippex forms they are talking about ushered the MPs into their positions and made them to be called honourables.

However, the committee proceeded questioning her till the end.

She further said as much as she is concerned, the use of tippex, even though it is not allowed in any election, it is legal as the law is silent on the issue.

“I accepted tippexed documents because I feel that the presiding officers used it to correct some mistake. It was not used to rig the elections, which the Constitutional Court observed,” she said.

Asked  if she was part of those who made the recommendations for MEC to appeal the Constitutional Court ruling, Kunje said she was.

“I endorsed the decision because I saw nothing wrong on the use of tippex and dulicates in the elections because the laws are silent. When laws are silent it means that we had to accept it’s use even though as MEC we said it will not be used,” she said.

She further disclosed that before accepting the altered documents, MEC consulted stakeholders on the matter and they do have them a greenlight.

A private practice lawyer has  described MEC commissioners testimony as a vindication of the Constitutional Court findings that the electoral body incompetently managed the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections, especially in the management of the presidential election results.

Lawyer John-Gift Makhwawa, former president of the Malawi Law Society (MLS), said the testimonies vindicate “the indictment by the Constitutional Court.”

The inquiry follows a landmark ruling the court delivered on February 3 nullifying the May 21 2019 presidential election and ordering a fresh poll within 150 days, citing anomalies and irregularities.

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