Departing MEC chief’s 1000-page wishes

Sam Alfandika—the man who managed two presidential elections within a year—has quit as chief elections officer for the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).

He has since gone on a three-month leave pending formal departure, both MEC chairperson  Justice Chifundo Kachale and Alufandika confirmed yesterday.

Kachale—who received Alfandika’s notice of resignation on Monday, April 26—said in a statement yesterday that the commission will be meeting to discuss his replacement.

“In the meantime the commission shall be meeting to discuss the relevant modalities for filling the vacancy arising from this development bearing in mind the critical role of this office in the effective discharge of our business at all levels,” said Kachale in the statement.

In an interview yesterday, Alfandika said he is taking up a new position at the United Nations (UN) as an international elections adviser.

But when asked how he would describe his tenure serving as MEC CEO, Alfandika said he would need 1 000 pages to effectively do that. He, however, said it would be up to people to judge him on how he has delivered.

Said Alfandika: “I very well know that I will surely be assessed and judged by different sections of people in their own right. However, the God that I truly serve is my ultimate assessor and judge.”

In an internal memo dated April 28 addressed to MEC staff, he said he feels sad and emotional to leave the commission after dedicating his work life over what he described as a gruelling three-and-a-half years.

Alfandika, alongside then chairperson Jane Ansah, who resigned a month before the court-sanctioned June 23 fresh presidential election, presided over the controversial May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections that led Malawians to lose trust in the commission.

An Afrobarometer survey released in the aftermath of the disputed polls said at the time, Malawians lost trust in MEC and that they believed that the quality of elections had declined following events surrounding the nullified presidential eection results.

In a separate interview, Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) chairperson Gift Trapence said Alfandika will be remembered for presiding over one of the worst “tippex” elections in the country’s history.

He said: “He will be remembered for managing tippex elections. Without the courts’ intervention, Malawians could have been robbed of their right to choose a President of their choice.”

Trapence said it is their expectation that the incoming MEC CEO will learn from past mismanagement of elections, stressing that it is important for history not to repeat itself.

He said standards of how to manage credible and fair elections were already set in the fresh presidential election.

In a separate interview, governance commentator Humphrey Mvula said Alfandika as the CEO was the weakest link in the administration of elections.

“He failed to guide commissioners appropriately and he was comfortable to assume duties of commissioners,” he said.

Meanwhile, MEC is expected to meet next week to deliberate on how they will resume discharging their constitutional and statutory functions following a stay order commissioners Linda Kunje and Jean Mathanga sought from the court.

The two embattled commissioners were granted permission for judicial review proceedings and an order staying a decision to rescind their appointments as MEC commissioners by government.

Kachale in the statement yesterday said the court intervention means that MEC composition reverts to what it was prior to delivery of letters sent to the two on government’s decision to rescind their appointments on April 12 2021.