Constituency and Ward boundary review continue to stir debate during MEC’s stakeholders consultative meetings

Constituency boundaries

MANA

As Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) undertakes review of Constituency and Ward boundary exercise, there have been a couple of misunderstandings amongst stakeholders in some of the consultative meetings that the pollster is engaging with.

On Monday, Lilongwe District elections stakeholders during their meeting at Bwaila Secondary School, posed numerous questions on how MEC came up with new names of constituencies and wards in the district.

On behalf of the technical team on demarcation process, Lilongwe District Commissioner, Lawford Palani presented three different scenarios which necessitate additional wards constituencies as well as their new names. Currently, Lilongwe has 18 constituencies.

Palani’s explanation did not please most traditional leaders at the meeting, arguing that names given to the new wards and one additional constituency have deep-rooted meanings connected to particular areas.

Senior Chief Chadza blamed MEC for not involving traditional leaders when coming up with the names, saying the issue may lead to voter apathy in the coming elections if the issue is not taken care of.

In response, MEC Commissioner, Olivia Liwewe, who MEC’s Electoral Services Committee chairperson, said names were just proposed and were subject to change.

“The door is still open for further consultations on these issues. It is not a one-day process and from here, we will go into the constituencies and wards that have critical issues to be addressed to ensure that we all are on the same pace as we move forward,” she assured the gathering.

According to Liwewe, the country’s electoral body has been using the current demarcations for 23 years, hence asked stakeholders to be patient.

The commissioner explained that MEC works to change things for the benefit of all people in the country.

The last review undertaking that determined the current 193 seats in Parliament was carried out 13 years ago in 1998 — failing to meet the country’s Constitution requirement of after every five years.

After 1998, MEC undertook another review 10 years later in 2008 but, according to the pollster, it was not approved by Parliament as per requirement.

The current process is for the 2025 tripartite elections that will take into consideration eligible voters that would turn 18 on the day of the elections.

Liwewe said: “Not everyone will be pleased with this process, however, we have taken note of all reviews which we will take back to the drawing board to see how best to incorporate them.

Lilongwe is the largest district in Central Region with over a million people.

There was also a confusion with high emotions on Thursday last week at Sandton Hall in Mzimba where traditional leaders, ward counsellors and representatives of various political parties raised concerns as to why Mzimba — which is the biggest district in Malawi — was only added a single constituency while other districts have been added more than one.  

After a lengthy deliberation, Commissioner Caroline Mfune clarified the matter, saying “the official number of constituencies for Mzimba is 13 and that the technical team had a figure of 12” and emphasized on the need for the technical team to work with all stakeholders at every stage so that they should pick a scenario that they are satisfied with.

 

In an interview after the meeting, Inkosi Mabilabo said an increase of two constituencies is better than one as it translate to additional resources and improved development in the district.

He however, said MEC should rely more on community members rather than politicians in its consultative process.

“Politicians have vested interest and they tend to mind more about votes than the interests of the community as such they are not better placed to help in this consultative process,” he said.

However, chiefs, councilors and other stakeholders in Rumphi — led by acting Paramount Chief Chikulamayembe — have endorsed their new constituency and ward boundaries.

Chikulamayembe said although people in the district were expecting more constituencies, the law, in its current form, could not let them have more than four constituencies and urged his chiefs and politicians to explain clearly to the people they serve.

“We know people were expecting more constituencies,” he said. “It is up to us to explain to the people the truth as relayed to us by MEC.

“I am hopeful the boundaries we have approved will serve our people better because we have just learnt that in the previous boundaries, some Members of Parliament were serving disproportionately more constituents than others, a challenge which the current demarcations will address,” he said.

Councilor Harry Mnyenyembe of Chinyolo-Mphompha Ward said he was happy with the result of the demarcations although they were expecting more wards and constituencies so that their people would benefit from increased constituency development fund resulting from increased constituencies.

He further said the law has been generous to them because consideration of their topography, among others, in making the demarcations ensured that they maintained the number of constituencies which otherwise would have been reduced to three if population were the only factor in demarcating constituencies and wards.

The meeting was chaired by Commissioner Anthony Mkumbwa, who said although the people were expecting more constituencies, he was happy they had adopted the revised number of constituencies.

“We have done everything in consultation with them, however, they wanted more constituencies. They wanted six or seven but we have given them four. This is in line with the Constitution.

“There was mixed reaction, but at the end of it, they have agreed to our reasoning which is based on the laws,” he said, adding that Rumphi District has four constituencies and eight wards.

The reviewing has already created 35 additional constituencies from the current, 193.—Reported by MANA’s Nellie Kapatuka, Manasse Nyirenda, Allan Nyasulu