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| Group Photo of the Participants in Dedza |
In a bid to ensure a free,fair and credible General election, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP),an arm of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) has trained 150 animators to be monitors of Malawi General election scheduled on 20 May, 2014.
The trained animators who came from Karonga, Mzuzu and Dedza dioceses of the Catholic Church will be deployed in the centers selected from the three dioceses to monitor the electoral process especially during the counting of votes.
The CCJP’s National Programs Officer Beatrice Mateyo Mkanda said the trainings in all the dioceses are aimed at complementing the Catholic Church’s values which among others is to realize the significance of a Christian participation in socio-economic and political issues.
Mkanda challenged the trained animators to utilize and develop skills in becoming domestic observers (monitors) in the forthcoming tripartite elections.
According to Mkanda, the trained animators have been imparted with skills to understand the tripartite election, electoral related conflicts and conflict management strategies.
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| Beatrice Mkanda CCJP National Program Officer |
Dedza District Elections Clerk, Fracks on Kafausiyanji commended the Catholic Church through CCJP department for taking an initiative in ensuring that the May 20 tripartite elections are handled with conscious and that the electoral results are accepted for all. He challenged the trained animators to act as referees when handling the electoral process in their respective centers.
“What you must know is that an election is like a game of football where candidates compete. You are therefore there as referees of the game meaning that you will be there as an eye of the Malawi Electoral Commission. You are obliged to monitor every process and bring trust to the voters as true representatives of MEC,” he said.
The training was funded by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) through the One year Program of Institutional Capacity Building Project towards 2014 Tripartite Elections in which the participants were trained on following topics: the spirituality of Justice and Peace, Elections, Non-partisan Elections Observation and Monitoring, Electoral challenges in Malawi with reference to Bishops Pastoral Letters and Elections.
SOURCE: ECM Communications Office