The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says it has engaged village night criers ahead of August 23 2022 local government by-elections.

According to the Commission’s Director of Media and Public Relations Sangwani Mwafulirwa, the approach is aimed at helping in spreading information and mobilise people to register and verify their details.

He explains: “We have engaged village criers, this is the first time we are using this approach, we are sending people who are already used in the villages to spread messages about all other social events, whether funeral or social activities.

We are very optimistic that this approach is going to give us an opportunity to reach out to everybody, especially in those hard to reach areas where we could not reach.”

The by-election is scheduled to take place in Balaka’s Shire Ward, Lupembe Ward in Karonga and Wenya Ward in Chitipa.

Mwafulirwa said the exercise is currently progressing smoothly.

“Operation wise form the side of MEC we are doing very well, keeping all the centers running all the time.

“So, our appeal is people should look at the by-election for local government as also an equally important one and they should find an opportunity within their busy schedule to either go and register or verify their details if they already registered in the past,” said Mwafulirwa.