By: Draxon Maloya.
Lilongwe, Malawi. (News of The South)
In an effort to improve inter-agency working and preparedness for Malawi’s May 21 tripatite Elections the British Peace Support Team is in the country for a four-day national elections command and control exercise.
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The exercise which started on Monday morning in the capital city, Lilongwe has drawn participants from Malawi Defence Force (MDF), Malawi Police Service and the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).
In his address to the participants the police Inspector General; Rodney Jose said the exercise was important as it would provide knowledge and skill on effectively contributing towards fair, violence free and credible elections.
He said: “Elections are not a domain of Malawi Electoral Commission alone, but several other stakeholders. it is therefore important to secure support from all key stakeholders and develop a shared vision on how together we can make the entire electoral process successful”.
And the BPST-Africa exercise delivery team leader O`Donoghue said the exercise was part of Britain’s broader package of support to Malawi to conduct free and credible elections in May.
He expressed hope that Malawi would have a free and fair through the strategies put in place by the Police Army and the Electoral Commission.
“This process this week is to exercise critical decisions making in relation to electoral matters over the three phases of the election- this phase we are now, the pre-election phase, the actual election day and the post election phase, “ O`Donoghue said.
This exercise builds on the police election strategy workshop held last year which led to the formulation of an election strategy by the police, army and other electoral stakeholders.
Apart from the elections strategy workshop, United Kingdom has contributed 2.77 million Pounds of UKAid to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) managed Elections Basket Fund that supports MEC to deliver credible elections.
UK has been one of the major contributors to Malawi in case of emergencies and other crucial moments since independence in 1964.
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