Chisomo Ngulube Writes

The 2019 Parliamentary, Presidential and Local Government elections will be remembered for the heightened campaign to see more women elected into higher office, through the 50-50 Campaign. While some progress was made on the parliamentary and local government fronts, attempts to see more women in the highest office of President were thwarted, as the only woman who had intended to contest, former president Joyce Banda withdrew her candidature to support the Malawi Congress Party. News that the May 21, 2019 presidential election results had been nullified by the courts offered a new window of opportunity for women who constitute over 52 percent of Malawians to actively participate. But when the final list of nine  political party and possible independent candidates for the July 21 election was released by the Malawi Electoral Commission, women were conspicuously missing. It means no woman will make it onto the ballot paper as a presidential candidate.

There have been reports on social media and from some of the COVID-19 patients, doubting the credibility of the positive results with some claiming the DPP government was bloating the figures. With the elections looming, the feeling is that the President Mutharika-led administration is deliberately trying to paint a gloomy picture to garner enough reasons to stop a presidential election re-run. This prompted the Ministry of Health to bring in its allies.