Tenthani was speaking during a series of meetings with district MPLC stakeholders including District Commissioners in the north, centre and southern region where among others CMD has pledged a continued support to MPLCs with financial support from the UNDP and DFID.
“MPLCs played out a crucial role in last year’s tripartite elections by among others facilitating political dialogues and resolving party conflicts. It is against this background that we don’t want this to die a natural death hence our interest to keep them going even during this time as we wait for the 2019 elections,” he said.
Tenthani said for instance Thyolo MPLC managed to resolve conflict that emerged in Goliati during last general election’s campaign period where they identified the cause of the conflict and successfully came up with strategies in resolving it.
“Similarly, there was tension in Ntcheu where political parties were fighting over venue allocation for campaign meetings and the MPLC intervened as well and it ended up well,” said Tenthani.
He said CMD would like to see such initiatives continuing in between these years as we wait for the next general elections and admitted that they have financial resources and they will be funding a meeting quarterly.
District Commissioner for Lilongwe, Charles Makanga commended CDM for revamping the MPLC roles in the districts saying the committee is crucial in managing conflicts at a district level.
“The problem we have here in Malawi is that we regard elections as an event that comes only once after a five year period forgetting that this is a process meaning that we need to be meeting now and then, even in between, thus before the elections. In such a way, we will be able prepare well for the elections thereby managing political conflicts at the same time,” said Makanga.
He said there are a lot of issues that are there before and after elections and MPLCs are there to tackle such issues as a way of strengthening the country’s democracy.
“During this period when the elections are over and we are waiting for the next general election, other political parties would claim that a particular place is a ‘no gone’ area for a certain political party, a situation that can promote political tension and conflict. This is where MPLCs can come in and promote interparty dialogue,” he said.
Multiparty Liaison Committee membership at a district level is comprised of party district governors, Traditional Authorities, Police, religious leaders, Civil Society Organisations and the District Commissioner chairs the committee.
CMD is working with MPLCs from Nkhatabay, Rumphi and Karonga in the north, Lilongwe, Ntcheu, Mchinji and Dowa in the Center and Nsanje, Blantyre, Mulanje, Thyolo and Mangochi in the South.
