The leadership of Malawi First has given the Malawi Electoral Commission MEC a 14-days ultimatum to engage an independent auditor to vet the MEC system ahead of the elections.

President of the group Bon Kalindo has also said  the use of Smartmatic in the next election should be cancelled and focus on manual transmission of elections.

"We are against the use of the Smartmatic elections management devices. We wonder why the commission is resisting from engaging independent auditors to go through their system," said Kalindo.

Kalindo says the move is to ensure credibility and fairness in the upcoming elections.

He said this at a press briefing in Lilongwe where he called on public officers, including cabinet ministers and presidential candidates, to declare their assets as per the country's laws.

Kalindo feels this will end the tendency of corruption among public officers.

"Yet, the prevalence of unexplained wealth among some of our leaders raises serious questions about the integrity and commitment to public service. Against this background, Malawi First would like to call upon public officers particularly in the Executive Branch of Government, including Cabinet Ministers to declare their assets, disclose their source of funding and proof of tax retention to Malawi Revenue Authority through their private businesses," added Kalindo.

Kalindo says the "Malawi Electoral Commission should exercise their rights through voting and anything hindering such a right shall not be tolerated.

"We are so eager as citizens of this country to make sure that the electoral process is managed with all fairness without bieng favoring a particular candidate. Let the people of Malawi choose the leader of their choice," he said.

MEC spokesperson, Sangwani Mwafulirwa in a written response say the commission will speak at an appropriate time when the commission gets an official communication from the grouping

Malawi goes to the polls on 16 September this year.