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Political analyst and lawyer Dr Alex Magaisa and Award winning ICT journalist Toneo Rutsito have expressed major concern over the interference of the security forces in the electoral commissions in SADC region which played a significant role in the Zimbabwean and Malawian election.
In an online meeting with the Election Resource Centre Zimbabwe Toneo applauded the Malawian state institutions for defending the constitution but however posed the question on the interference of the military in electoral process in the SADC as a panacea to power hand over.
“We applaud the Malawian military for defending the constitution during election which is similar to what happened in Zimbabwe 2017 when the military helped in free expression of the people`s will and also how the military responded to succession of power in Malawi. However as SADC do we always need the active role of military to have a purely ,free and fairly credible elections in SADC countries”,
“As SADC what precedence are we setting or should our constitution be clear enough to say what is the role of military towards elections?”
“We remember how the military defended the constitution of Malawi upon the succession of the late President, His Excellency Bingu wa Mutharika in 2012 when there was an attempt to subvert it”, said Magarisa.
“If anyone can explain in full details the role of electoral commission because it’s now seemingly as if there is no electoral commission without the security forces”, he said.
Billy Mayaya responded to the panellist saying that the involvement of the military in the electoral processes was based on protecting the rights of the citizen.
“ As we consolidated our democracies in Africa the military has been used to internalise the value of human rights so that they don’t seem to appear as if they violating the rights of the people”, he said.
“In the context of Malawi, the army was guided by the leadership of army generals whom the government noticed that,they wawere protecting the citizens without jeopardizing the elections”.
“I commend the state institution of Malawi for giving people the power to defend their vote without dictatorship for the integrity of an election does not depend from formal sector but also depend from informal institutions”, said Magarisa
There is genuine fear that a precedence is now being set in SADC that he who has a closer relation with the army will find the elections much more favorable or gets a preferential treatment.
The army has always been urged to stay true to the constitution of the country and defend it more above partisan differences to grown any nation into a purely civilian controlled state.
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