High turnout impresses MEC

The   third phase of the voter registration underway in Mulanje, Thyolo and Phalombe  districts has seen a large turnout of people, hence forcing the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to call for additional clerks to contain the situation.

In their day-long tour of registration centres in the three districts on Saturday, National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust programmes manager Grey Kalindekafe, and Southern Region civic education officer Christopher Naphiyo, established that the registration officials in some of the sampled centres were overwhelmed as hundreds were being attended to by two clerks.

The Nation also established that the two teams at Chimvu Registration Centre in Thyolo have only three instead of the ideal number of six clerks.

MEC quality control manager Daniel Willie disclosed that since the third phase started, the centre has been turning away hundreds of people because “the personnel are always overwhelmed by the number of people that come to register”.

He said: “So far, we have had no problems with the equipment, but we are always turning away people because we’re not enough to effectively serve everyone who comes each day.”

Some centres also reported a few cases of dry inkpads (or thumbprint) and shortage of stationery such as pens, pencils, rubbers and razor blades with Mulomba Registration Centre in Mulanje topping the list.

In an interview  yesterday, MEC commissioner Nancy Tembo confirmed inadequate numbers of staff at Goliati and Chimvu registration centres.

Tembo said: “MEC is resolving the problem to ensure smooth registration process.”