The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has said it will hire vehicles from the private sector to ease transportation challenges for the polling day activities of the May 2019 tripartite elections.
During the voter register inspection, the commission faced serious shortage of vehicles as some district councils and ministries withdrew vehicles earmarked for the exercise.
Speaking in an interview, MEC Bishop Mary Nkosi said the commission is currently engaging government to ensure that the polling day is free from transportation anomalies.
”For the commission to carter 5002 polling centres across the country, we need more vehicles to timely deploy our employees and electoral materials in readiness for the polling day,” Commissioner Nkosi said.
She added: “Currently, we have a transportation taskforce which is engaging relevant authorities and is identifying all vehicles that can be taken from government.
”We will surely beef up the vehicles by hiring some from the private sector as not all government vehicles allocated for the exercise can be roadworthy,” Nkosi said.
According to Commissioner Bishop Mary Nkosi, MEC will require about 2400 vehicles for the polling day activities.
Meanwhile, the commission is currently training its workers in readiness for the polling day activities of the 2019 polls.
