MCP’s Gerald Kazembe appeals against Jooma’s court victory as MP for Mangochi-Monkey-Bay

Gerald Kazembe, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Parliamentary candidate for the Mangochi-Monkey-Bay constituency in the May 21, 2019 tripartite elections has filed an appeal at the Supreme Court — the High Court’s verdict that ruled that Ralph Jooma was rightfully elected as MP for the area.

At the High Court hearing in Blantyre on Wednesday last week, Justice Jack Nriva dismissed Kazembe’s application for the court to nullify the 2019 Parliamentary election results.

Court documents in our possession indicate that Kazembe, who is the MCP’s deputy general secretary and indisputably the face of the ruling party in the Eastern Region, has not given up on the battle for the seat — which he narrowly lost to Jooma of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

In a telephone interview, Kazembe, who strongly feels people of Monkey-Bay were robbed of their votes in the chaotic 2019 tripartite election that saw several candidates to go to courts for their interventions.

Kazembe’s election petition was the last to be disposed of by the High Court of Malawi having nullified election results of at least six constituencies.

“I understand how democracy works and had always anticipated that this [case] would go all the way to the Supreme Court for final settlement,” Kazembe said.

He is is arguing the Courts that the election was marred by irregularities and that the outcome did not reflect the will of the people in the Constituency.

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) declared Jooma, who was the incumbent then, as the winner with 9,341 votes against Kazembe’s 9,052.

He alleges several irregularities in the results, arguing that MEC committed fraud by exaggerating figures after polling was closed. He also alleges that there were fake result sheets that were used instead of the originals.

Kazembe also told the Blantyre High Court that his monitors, who where two at each polling stream including the district tally centre, faced a hostile environment from his opponent’s monitors and that the results were also altered using a correction fluid Tipp-Ex.

Despite the loss, Kazembe is continuing with assisting the people of Monkey-Bay Constituency by providing them with different basic needs — a move people believe is meant as campaign in case the court nullifies the results for fresh election two years after the initial election.

He has sponsored the drilling of almost 46 boreholes in the Constituency as he strives in bringing potable water to every village.

The 2019 Malawi presidential election was dubbed the ‘Tipp-Ex election’ on social media, referring to the correction fluid used to alter figures.

The Supreme Court of Appeal already ruled that the use of Tipp-Ex was against electoral laws and consequently the 2019 presidential elections and parliamentary elections in some constituencies were nullified based on this ground.

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