By Vincent Gunde
People of Kandota village in the area of Traditional Authority Phambala in Ntcheu district have proved to be a hard nut to crack after protesting heavily to their village head that they cannot exchange their voter registration certificates for free food distribution from the MCP.
On 2nd May, 2025 Village head Kandota invited all of his subjects at one meeting to brief them plans by the MCP led government that they surrender their voter registration certificates to him so that he should register them all at his house.
The village chief was one who was in the company of Ntcheu chiefs who went to the State House in Lilongwe to dine with President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera and at the end of the day, they pocketed allowances in a free for all money being splashed in envelopes.
A source from Kandota village said their village chief briefed them on the trip to Lilongwe where they dined together with President Chakwera that he is greatly touched by the hunger crisis which has hit hard Ntcheu district households.
She said the MCP government wants to distribute free food to the people of Ntcheu as part of addressing the hunger crisis in the district through registering of beneficiaries who have surrendered their voter registration certificates to him to be registered as the rightful beneficiaries.
The woman said the meeting did not go well with the people protesting heavily that they cannot surrender their voter registration certificates in exchange for free food from the MCP advising the village chief to go back to the MCP that Ntcheu has rejected their plan of rigging the 16th September, 2025 elections.
“We have not begged government to give us free food and we are not surrendering our voter registration certificates s to make the MCP rig the 16th September, 2025 elections,” reads the message from Kandota village.
What has happened to the people of Kandota village in Ntcheu is just a tip of an iceberg, this is happening across the country where various groups ranging from chiefs, youth and women have been making their way to the State House to dine with President Chakwera and they are receiving K50,000s each.
Each of the persons going to the State House, is carrying a voter registration certificate and no one knows the motive behind taking with them voter registration certificates and with the way the Mec is preparing for the September, 2025 elections, conclusions have already been made, people have already voted for the 16th September, 2025 elections.
The Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) is reported to have rejected independent auditors from auditing the Smartmatic machine, its chairperson Justice Annabel Mtalimanja is not moved by millions of Malawian voters that are demanding NO to Smartmatic machines and YES to credible elections.
Bishop Martin Mtumbuka of the Diocese of Karonga in the Roman Catholic Church, has appealed to political parties and all their supporters to maintain peace ahead of the September, 2025 elections advising Mec to listen to Malawian demands so that the losers in the elections accept defeat honorably.
