A rotten example

IT IS with great shame that Namibians witnessed how former President Sam Nujoma, the African Union’s (AU) head of observers and the SADC Electoral Observation Mission, headed by another Namibian, foreign minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, declared Malawi’s 2014 election free and fair while Malawians were still voting in an election widely described as chaotic.

Nujoma and Nandi-Ndaitwah’s work in the Malawi elections was nothing short of scandalous.

The SADC observer team’s preliminary assessment of Malawi’s electoral process “concluded that the 2014 Tripartite Elections in the Republic of Malawi were peaceful, free, transparent and credible, reflecting the will of the people of Malawi”, urging “all political parties and candidates who contested these elections, to respect the will of the people”.

Nujoma’s mission also endorsed the elections as “generally credible”.

Malawi’s election started off amidst chaos, fizzled into farce and is still not finished with confusion and disappointment reigning supreme.

This catalogue of calamities started with polling stations opening late, people voting multiple times as proper procedures were not followed. Most polling stations did not have adequate materials such as indelible ink, voters’ register, ballot papers, ballot boxes and seals and even pens.What was supposed to be a one-day vote turned into a three-day free for all.

A statement from the Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Support Network (MESN), Steve Duwa, confirmed to journalists in Blantyre on the first day of voting that “most polling stations opened as late as 09h00 this morning instead of 06h00”.

He said only 17% of 386 polling stations observed by them opened on time. The MESN also confirmed that there was rioting in some areas where polling stations opened late.

The electoral process in credible democratic elections should be predictable but the outcome should not be.

Observing an election in a foreign country should not be treated as a holiday.

Malawi news site Nyasa Times quoted a civil and political rights activist, Chikondi Butao Banda, saying “MEC’s decision to listen to Malawians and not deranged confectionists disguised as ‘international observers’ is pace-setting on a continent that believes in everything foreigners tell them.”

Butao Banda said the observers’ claims were erroneous and “embarrassing to say the least” as most relied on the media in assessing the electoral process, instead of physically visiting the remotest polling places and interviewing “the real people on the ground”.

He wondered how the observers would describe the election as free and fair where in some cases votes counted were four times more than the actual number of the registered voters.

The activist added the “so-called international observers” were a disgrace and deterrent to Africa’s democratisation.

By Saturday, Malawi president Joyce Banda, who at the time trailed two opponents, cancelled the counting and called for fresh elections, which she wasn’t going to be part of.

Banda also alleged massive fraud and rampant irregularities in the election.

The courts, however, said it’s not the president’s decision, and the electoral commission continued counting.

Now the result of Malawi’s chaotic election will only be known in two months, as the electoral commission will manually count the votes.

Sounds familiar?

The question we have to ask is, have the AU and SADC not learnt anything from previous experiences?

Namibia’s 2009 elections were also declared free and fair before the result, which was delayed for days due to counting irregularities. Opposition parties then took the Electoral Commission of Namibia and the ruling party to court, which blighted the credibility of the process and the commission.

Malawi’s electoral body actually taught other elections bodies a valuable lesson; that they shouldn’t be bullied into submission by a ruling party or president.

A lesson for observers in this flawed election is that they shouldn’t just enjoy the flight to a foreign land, the plush hotels and the generous subsistence and travel allowance. Observers should add to the trustworthiness of elections, hold the organisers of elections to account and not applaud malpractice.

When a Namibian goes out of the country, his/her conduct should be exemplary. He/she becomes the face of the entire nation. When a former president travels abroad, that is even more so. When Namibia’s senior leaders shortchange another country’s citizens and shame their country, by shoddy work, they shouldn’t get a free pass.

Nujoma and Nandi-Ndaitwah’s example should not be followed by anyone.

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