‘Govt should be extra transparent in the 2025 General Elections process to avoid any suspicions of rigging’—AACC accountability champion Rev. Maulidi

* This follows the furore that arose after the opposition, expressed dissatisfaction over NRB’s use of NFRA warehouse

* It was not wrong for the Leader of Opposition to visit the place as probably a whistleblower alerted him about some suspicious activities there

* Whistleblowers are needed in order to make things right—Rev. Maulidi

By Duncan Mlanjira

Ahead of the 2025 General Elections, the State authorities have been asked to be extra transparent in the electoral process to avoid any suspicions of rigging, advises All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) economic justice & accountability champion in Malawi, Rev. Baxton Maulidi.

This follows the furore that arose when Leader of Opposition, George Chaponda accused the government of using National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) warehouse in Kanengo, Lilongwe in collaboration with the National Registration Bureau (NRB), to compromise the ongoing voter registration exercise.

Chaponda, alongside other opposition Members of Parliament (MPs), paid a surprise visit to the NFRA warehouse in Kanengo where NRB set up a satellite station, which has later been explained is just a working facility for the already-printed national identity cards (IDs) to be sorted out and distributed to all voter registration centres across the country.

Chaponda told the august House that the opposition MPs’ visit was initially intended to assess the availability of maize at the warehouses but he claims they stumbled upon thousands of national IDs scattered on the warehouse floor, with some packed in sacks.

The Leader of Opposition asserted that the NRB’s operation at the NFRA warehouse raised serious questions about the integrity and security of its operations and questioned why the institution, that is critical to electoral processes, was operating from a warehouse rather than its official premises at the Office of the President and Vice-President.

However, it has been established that this arrangement was done way back in 2017 in transparent manner involving the government and its development partners, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Union, the Norwegian Government, Irish Aid, USAID and UNICEF.

The UNDP leased the warehouse for NRB operations and the inspection exercise of the premises was witnessed by the media from various media houses.

The objective of the arrangement is to ensure that a permanent and continuous national registration and identification system is established in Malawi.

Its project output is to design, establish and manage the necessary systems, infrastructure and equipment for the national registration and identity system, employing biometrically secure smartcards.

It is also to supervise the mass registration for all eligible Malawians and to transition the system to a continuous registration model in 2018 and to develop the capacity and systems of NRB to maintain and operate the system from 2019 onward.

It is also to provide an interface to other public and private sector systems that allow for appropriate data sharing within a legal framework that complies with international principles and standards for the Right to Privacy and Data Protection.

Having appraised himself with this arrangement between the government and its development partners, Rev. Maulidi faults the State authorities for lack of continuous update of the Kanengo operations.

“It was not wrong for the Leader of Opposition to visit the place as probably a whistleblower alerted him and the other opposition MPs about some suspicious activities there. Whistleblowers are needed in order to make things right,” says Rev. Maulidi.

“It is clear, based on the reaction of the rest of the members of the public after the MPs visit to the warehouse, that the majority of people are not aware of this arrangement with NRB at Kanengo.

“Ahead of the General Elections, all stakeholders are bound to be sensitive to the whole electoral process. All eyes are on the voter registration process and that calls for continuous update for transparency and accountability,” said the AACC economic justice & accountability champion in Malawi.

Chaponda told Parliament that they found the warehouse’s floor littered with thousands of national identity cards with some packed in sacks but the NRB officials hit back by accusing the MPs of deliberately scattering the items they found before capturing the place on camera strewn with IDs and papers.

With this revelation, Rev. Maulidi further said the transparency and accountability should also go along with security of every electoral process, saying the warehouse at Kanengo should have been well secured by the country’s law enforcement agency, the Malawi Police Service.

In the video clips, the MPs captured and interviewed some staff, who seemingly appeared to be juniors and explained that their job as interns was to sort out the cards as according to each registration centre and pack them for distribution.

The staff explained that their seniors were somewhere else on other duties to do with their processes and from the outlook, there wasn’t any security detail around.

“Part of transparency and accountability in the electoral process is security,” says Rev. Maulidi. “It is apparent that the opposition MPs did not find any, thus they can make as many accusations they might make, which unfortunately can be misleading due to lack of security transparency.

“There have been many other instances where the NRB has been accused of not providing the right services in as far as voter registration is concerned — with many of the issues being controversial and conflicting on the suspicion of rigging of the elections.

“The State authorities, therefore, must be transparent at every stage of the electoral process by updating the nation of every development because every activity is going to raise eyebrows.

“For the case of the Kanengo controversy, the State authorities should have come out in the open, along with their development partners, to explain the arrangement and dispel any suspicions of vote rigging instead of letting loose a one-sided version of the event.

“The nation needs to know all these things. I mean, very few knew of the arrangement between the government, the UNDP and other development partners at Kanengo — thus there was need to keep updating the public of the progress that this system has achieved so far.”

Rev. Maulidi concluded by saying while whistleblowing on wrong electoral process is very important, it should also be done in good faith having established all elements of evidence to avoid creating a state of panic among all stakeholders.