he US ambassador to Malawi has advised the citizenry to hold democratic institutions accountable to promote the ideals of good governance.
Jeanine Jackson made the remarks on Wednesday morning during her country’s election results breakfast reception in Lilongwe.
Her remarks come amidst expectations that the relations between Malawi and the United States would improve further following the re-election of President Barrack Obama into another four years.
Jackson said as the country moves towards 2014 general elections, Malawians should ask their candidates and political parties to explain their policies and vision for Malawi.
“The democratic institutions are the bedrock of a strong democracy, so holding institutions accountable is very important for the citizens. All the institutions such as the judiciary, the executive, the ministries, the parliament, the Malawi election institution, the Anti-corruption Bureau, or the Human rights commission; must be very strong to keep this country as a true democracy and truly representing the people of the country,” said Jackson.
And speaking at the same function Vice President Khumbo Kachali said the major lesson from the US elections is that candidates should campaign on issues and policies and not dwelling on personalities.
“We have seen how the opposition concedes defeat at the earliest convenient time. These are the lessons that we should learn as we go towards our general election in 2014, that when your colleague has won you need to congratulate him. Secondly, in whatever happens during the campaign, let us all forget about our campaigns and focus ahead a nation. It is my sincere hope that we Malawians as we towards the election we shall have a cut-off campaign where we will forget about the campaign and focus on building the nation,” said Kachali.
President Obama a democrat has got 303 electoral votes while his challenger republican Mitt Romney has 203 votes.
Under the American electoral college system as it is popularly known, a candidate must get at least 270 votes.
Obama defeated Romney in a series of key swing states, despite a weak economic recovery and persistent high unemployment, as US voters decided between two starkly different visions for the country.
At least 120 million American voters were expected to have cast votes in the race between the Democratic incumbent and Romney after a campaign focused on how to repair the ailing US economy.
The US is Malawi’s largest overall donor of bilateral aid, and recently made a 350 million dollar energy grant through the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
When that Country’s secretary of state visited the country in August she announced that the US would be making investments totaling 46 million dollars to strengthen agriculture in the next three years.