June by-elections to cost K403m

The bye-elections which Malawi Electoral Commission is scheduled to conduct on June 23 for councillors in five wards in Karonga, Mangochi, Zomba, Mzuzu and Thyolo municipality will cost it 403 million Kwacha.
Commissioner Evelyn Mtafu said this during the opening of training on registration, verification and nomination for trainers of trainees.
Mtafu said the money will cover printing and distribution of ballot papers as well as wages for poll workers among others.

Mtafu said the right to vote starts with registration, therefore if its miss eligible person at registration, their right to vote has been violated as there is no remedy thereafter.

“Because of this, we need to do everything we can to ensure that we design and implement our voter registration exercise in a manner that does not deliberately disenfranchise eligible registrants,” she said.

On this note, the commissioner said apart from being trained on the technical aspects, the participants need to be drilled on customer care.
“The registrants are our customers and we need to give them a quality service that will make them feel comfortable at the registration centre. We do not want cases of people exchanging bitter words with registration staff just because they have stayed long on the queue” warned Mtafu.
The by-elections taking place in Karonga Khwawa, Mzuzu Chibanja, Mangochi Msikiti, Zomba central and Luchenza central wards are due to deaths of councillors who were elected during the tripartite elections in May 2014.