Mary Nkosi leaves rotten Malawi Electoral Commission

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) commissioner Mary Nkosi has quit the pollster, making her the first official to leave the embattled electoral body just days after the Supreme Court of Appeal  upheld a Constitutional Court ruling that there should be a fresh election on July 2.

However, in an interview,  Nkosi, a former Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) deputy governor appointed commissioner on June 6 2016, has played down the matter, saying she has gone on three week annual leave which coincides with the expiry of her and other commissioners’ contracts on June 2, 2020.

Nkosi said she has not gone on leave for sometime and decided to take her leave days now.

“I have not resigned. It’s just that my annual leave coincides with the expiry of my contract. How can I proceed on leave if I have left the institution?” said Nkosi, who went to MEC on Malawi Congress Party (MCP) ticket.

She told the parliamentary  inquiry assessing MEC’s competence that many key decisions were made by chairperson Jane Ansah, chief elections officer Sam Alfandika and “some commissioners” without the knowledge of other commissioners.

To improve election management, Nkosi suggested the need for balance in the composition of MEC to check against the dominance of one political party or forcing members to peddle political, instead of rational, decisions benefitting the nation.

There have been calls for MEC chairperson Ansah and the Commissioners to resign after the courts found them incompetent in the way they handled May 21, 2019 elections.

MEC commissioners are expected to meet this week to decide on their resignations following the Supreme Court ruling.

Nkosi, a widow [nee Masiku] did primary school at St Maria Goretti and Dzenza Primary schools in Lilongwe. She went Lilongwe Girls Secondary School and later on to University of Malawi-Chancellor College wher she  pursued Bachelors of Science degree majoring in psychology and biology.

After graduation in 1973,  she  joined National Bank of Malawi the same year. In 1981, Nkosi  went for a Post Graduate Diploma in Management Studies in United Kingdom.

She once worked at Fincom, now Nedbank as Chief Executive Officer.  Nkosi was appointed  Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi in 2003 while at Nedbank where she was also appointed President of Bankers Association and non – executive director of Comesa Bankers.

Nkosi is a pastor ordained  in 2001 by Apostle Dr. Stanley Ndovie of Living Waters Church.

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