The May 20, 2004 presidential elections were rigged by UDF members where 362,000 votes cast for MCP president John Tembo were manipulated and given to UDF candidate Bingu wa Mutharika, ruling party national executive member Dumbo Lemani disclosed on Thursday.
But Tembo said on Thursday the case is in court and could not comment on the matter, adding it will be up to the court to decide whether the issue Lemani disclosed is admissible in court. “I have my own evidence but it will be up to the court to decide on the validity of this evidence,” said Tembo.
Lemani alleged he received a telephone call from UDF deputy director of research Humphrey Mvula, who is under police custody on allegations of murder but is sick in hospital, at around 09:45 AM Thursday, asking him to tell journalists that he masterminded the rigging. Mvula, according to Lemani, is ready to play the role of witness in the elections case where the Mgwirizano Coalition and MCP are contesting the May 20 presidential poll results.
“I am in a state of a shock as I am speaking now. Mr. Mvula told me today that he manipulated the votes,” said Lemani. He said UDF, as a party, was not involved in the rigging and that it is distancing itself from the matter.“The only honourable thing will be to ask Bingu to step down,” said Lemani.
Asked to say in what capacity Mvula manipulated the votes, Lemani said the man was in charge of the elections and that he had Mutharika’s blessings to do that. “Mr. Mvula phoned telling me that he is being persecuted and getting arrested because of the same issue and that he wanted the nation to know this,” alleged Lemani. He claimed Mvula already reminded Mutharika of the rigging when the President summoned UDF gurus including Muluzi, Friday Jumbe, Clement Stambuli and Salim Bagus to a meeting at Sanjika in July. “The Sanjika meeting was very hot and after that meeting Bingu asked Dr. Muluzi and Mr. Mvula to stay behind and talked to them without us,” said Lemani.
UDF regional governor (South) John Chikakwiya, who walked in as Lemani was talking about the issue, also said he received a telephone call from Mvula on the same matter.
“He called me as well and told me the same things,” claimed Chikakwiya. A man who identified himself as Mvula’s brother said his relative could not comment on the matter as he was in pain. But a source who said he was part of the rigging confirmed that Mvula manipulated the elections results with Mutharika’s blessings.
Muluzi’s spokesman Sam Mpasu refused to comment on the issue, saying the party chairman is not yet aware of the issue. Secretary general Kennedy Makwangwala said he did not know whether the issue was true or false. “I don’t think the party was involved. The people could have been doing that in their individual capacities to help the party they love,” said Makwangwala. Mutharika’s closest aide Chief of Staff Ken Ng’oma refused to comment on the matter. The President’s spokesman Prescott Gonani said he could not get a comment from the head of state as he was preparing for a trip to Tanzania.
Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) spokesman Fegus Lipenga said it is not possible to rig the elections because counting of votes is done at a polling centre in the presence of different monitors. “Elections are run by an independent body which is EC. We have original copies from the centres. Anyway, this will be sorted out by the court,” said Lipenga.
Head of Political and Administrative Studies at Chancellor College Mustafa Hussein said people need to be careful over this matter because there is currently a misunderstanding between UDF members loyal to Muluzi and those loyal to Mutharika and that Mvula is known to be loyal to Muluzi. “Already many people are unhappy with Dr. Mutharika and this might be a plot to undermine his government. On the other hand, if this is true, it could cause doubts on the legitimacy of the current government and might be useful to the court case,” said Hussein.
Law Society spokesman Alick Msowoya said in the event that the court declares that the President was not duly elected, there will be a fresh election for the President in term of Section 100 (4) of the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act but that subsection five of the same Section indicates that this shall not invalidate anything done by the President before the court’s declaration.
“What this means is that the cabinet will still remain and according to Section 85 of the Constitution, the cabinet shall elect among its members an acting president to hold office for not more than 60 days,” said Msowoya. He said if the President is found not to have been duly elected, the vice president will also be declared as such.