By Vincent Gunde
The Concerned Citizens of Malawi –the People Power Movement, has written a letter to Mec Chairperson Justice Annabel Mtalimanja requesting for the immediate resignation of Mec Chief Elections Officer Andrew Mpesi.
The Concerned Citizens have expressed their grave concerns over the recent conduct of a disturbing incident that occurred during a meeting between Mec officials and registered voters where Mr. Mpesi reacted emotionally and aggressively by shouting at Concerned registered voters.
The Citizen group has claimed that Mpesi’s behavior during the engagement was not only unprofessional but deeply unbefitting of someone entrusted with overseeing free, fair, and credible elections.
In the letter filed by Comrade Edwards Kambanje dated 2nd June, 2025 the Concerned Citizens say they went to the engagement meeting in peace and good faith to raise legitimate concerns with Mec that Mec is being seen as a referee while siding with a candidate who is also a player.
The Concerned Citizens say instead of Mr. Mpesi listening to their concerns, he was seen banging tables with clenched fists and this escalated tensions that attracted the attention of security personnel to forcibly eject them from the meeting space.
The Citizens Group say Mpesi’s behavior has raised serious questions about his temperament, leadership capacity, and impartiality saying as a C.E.O, he is expected to exercise calm, judgement, show maturity, and respect the dignity of all Malawians regardless of their views.
The Group says Mr. Mpesi’s actions reflected a partisan stance and inability to manage pressure or criticism –traits that rendered him unfit to continue presiding over a process as sensitive and vital as national elections.
“Mr. Mpesi’s actions have eroded public trust and raised concerns about the fairness of any electoral process under his supervision, we therefore, call upon the Commission to take this matter seriously and demand his immediate resignation,” reads the letter in part.
A Malawi Congress Party (MCP) diehard of Mvera in Dowa district Mr. Rodgers Kamphanagala, says Malawians have gone into elections from 1994, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2020 but the 2025 elections are the worst saying these are not elections but the opposite of elections.
Kamphangala has backed concerns raised by the Concerned Citizens that they are genuine demanding Mpesi’s immediate resignation saying as Mec CEO, he was not supposed to bang tables describing this conduct as unprofessional.
He said Mpesi was supposed to be fired on the very same day he banged tables with his fists taking the 16th September, 2025 elections as personal forgetting that the country is holding national elections saying Mpesi is not fit to preside over the poisonous elections.
The MCP diehard has questioned the Judiciary that why it has taken long to act on a case of Mpesi’s appointment as Mec CEO saying this alone, is sending a clear message to opposition parties that Mpesi is an MCP mec plant.
