Rumphi, Mana: Member of Parliament for Rumphi East, Kamlepo Kalua Monday said he was not comfortable for Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to maintain four constituencies in the just ended re-demarcation exercise.
Kalua expressed his concern at a public hearing on constituencies’ boundary re-demarcations engagement which was organized by MEC to solicit public feed on the exercise.
During the engagement, MEC said the district will have the already four existing constituencies
He said while he had no problem with the outcome of the exercise, he was not comfortable with population as one of the factors considered in the re-demarcation exercise.
“Some local authorities such as Luchenza Town Council and Likoma District have constituencies even though their population is smaller compared to Rumphi,” said Kalua
He further observed that Chitipa District which has a smaller population than Rumphi has five constituencies whilst Rumphi has four.
In his response MEC Chairperson, Justice Dr. Chifundo Kachale told Kalua that MEC was only following the constitutional provisions in the re-demarcation exercise which among others include ease of access, geographical factors and population in establishing the number of constituencies in each district.
Another commissioner, Richard Chapweteka., then added that if the member was not satisfied he was at liberty to take the matter up with other parliamentarians and change the laws to reflect what he and other stakeholders want as only parliament has the mandate to change the laws.
However, this did not go down well with Kalua who rose up and challenged the commissioners that he would not stop representing the interests of people of Rumphi District and described the decision as discrimination against the district.
It took the intervention of Acting Chief Elections officer, Haris Potani to convince the parliamentarian to take his seat.
Later, parliamentarian for Rumphi North, Jappie Mhango asked the commission to treat all stakeholders at the public hearing with dignity saying people were only expressing their views Kachale apologised on behalf of the commission before the engagement proceeded.
Moir Walita who represented Human Rights Defenders Coalition expressed the need for the district to have more constituencies.
The MEC then to review the concerns raised about the number of constituencies in the district and that the concerned parties would have feedback through a report which will submitted to parliament for approval.
In an exclusive interview after the hearing, Kalua said his contribution was misunderstood as he was only arguing for the future as he was aware that there was little the commission would change at that stage.
MEC has been conducting a constituency boundary review exercise in the country which has resulted in increased number of parliamentary seats from 193 to 229.
