Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Chairperson Dr. Jane Ansah has defended the move by the electoral body to hire lawyers from South Africa in the appeal case at the Supreme Court scheduled to commence on April 15, 2020.

On Wednesday, the social media was awash with reports that MEC has hired Mboweni Maluleke Inc Attorneys of South Africa to beef up legal team of the electoral body headed by lawyer Tamanda Chokhotho.

According to documents seen by Faceofmalawi, the South African lawyers will be paid $788, 500 (over 600 million).

The move attracted mixed reactions with many questioning the rationale behind hiring foreign lawyers at such a higher costs.

Others even went further by asking the MEC to rescind its decision.

Reacting to a question during the National Elections Consultative Forum (NECOF) at Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre on costs of hiring lawyers from South Africa, Dr. Ansah said democracy is not cheap.

She said the cost of hiring foreign lawyers are the same costs the Attorney General was getting when he was representing the Commission in the election case.

“Senior counsels in Malawi are not cheap, they charge MK5 million per day,” said Ansah.

Meanwhile the foreign lawyers are currently in Malawi.