Malawi Electoral Commission has scored a distinction in their human capacity aspect with the hiring of a new Chief Executive Officer, Dr Andrew Mpesi, who political observers say is the most qualified ever to head the organization.
Mpesi, to be known as Chief Elections Officer in the organisation’s hierarchy, replaces Sam Alfandika who came into negative light in 2019 for helping in the mismanagement of the Presidential poll that was later annulled by the Constitutional Court for massive irregularities.
The development brings assurance to Malawians of credible elections mainly in 2025 when the country will conduct another tripartite election. Mpesi will pair MEC chairperson, Justice Chifundo Kachale, who earned a lot of respect for conducting a credible court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential poll in 2020 which was won by incumbent President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera.
The new pair breathes freshness into an electoral system that was rotten to the core for many years under the Democratic Progressive Party machinery.
Apart from being professional, Mr Mpesi has an impressive academic and career track record. He is a Governance Specialist with more than 15 years of working experience.
He has worked in the academia, public sector, private sector and civil society and has expertise in political party organization, elections and political processes, parliamentary strengthening, social accountability, local government administration, party manifestos and promising tracking among others.
Currently he works for USAID Malawi as Governance Specialist.
Dr Mpesi holds Master of Arts (Political Science), Bachelor of Arts (Public Administration) and Postgraduate Diploma in Health Systems Management and is currently studying for PhD in Development studies at the University of Malawi.
He has previously lectured Political Science at the Catholic University of Malawi besides being engaged as Part-time Lecturer in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at Chancellor College, University of Malawi.
The youthful governance expert has served as External Assessor for Public Social Accountability Monitor (PSAM) examinations at Rhodes University-RSA. He currently serves as an Associate for the MS-Training Centre for Development Cooperation (MS-TCDC)-Arusha Tanzania.
He has previously worked on part-time contract as Master Trainer for Democracy Works Foundation-RSA which is implementing Southern African Political Parties & Dialogue (SAPP&D) programme that aims at strengthening democratic institutions and capacity of political parties in Botswana, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Lesotho. He has also worked for ActionAid Zambia and ActionAid Malawi as Head of Fundraising and Partnership, and National Project Manager respectively.
Dr Mpesi has published in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. He has served as a Reviewer for the Malawi Journal of Social Sciences.