Acting Deputy Chief Elections Officer

Hastings Bota is a seasoned governance and public administration expert currently serving as the Director of Electoral Services. With over 30 years of experience spanning electoral management, decentralisation, public sector reform, development planning, and policy implementation, Mr. Bota has contributed significantly to Malawi’s governance and institutional development landscape.

Appointed to his current role in August 2022, Mr. Bota oversees the design and implementation of key electoral operations, including voter registration, electoral logistics, and stakeholder coordination. His leadership is central to the Commission’s efforts to deliver credible, inclusive, and transparent elections.

Prior to joining MEC, he served as Team Leader for Local Government Reforms under the DAI-implemented Local Government Accountability and Performance (LGAP) Project from September 2020 to June 2021. In this role, he led strategic coordination of decentralisation initiatives, including the facilitation of sector devolution in six key areas, drafting recommendations for amending the Local Government Act, and contributing to the revision of Malawi’s Decentralisation Policy.

From 2018 to 2020, Mr. Bota worked as PSRP Monitoring Specialist with the Malawi Millennium Development Trust, where he monitored progress on power sector reforms. Before that, he was Power Sector Reform Manager at Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Malawi from 2015 to 2018, managing reform implementation under the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Compact.

Between 2006 and 2015, Mr. Bota held the position of Deputy Director of Local Government Services (Decentralisation) in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. His portfolio involved policy coordination, inter-governmental liaison, and decentralisation program oversight. Earlier roles in the Ministry include serving as Chief Monitoring and Evaluation Officer (2003–2006) and District Commissioner for Mulanje District Council (2000–2003), where he led district-level administration and coordinated local development initiatives.

He began his public service career as a District Education Planner in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology from 1994 to 1997, after completing a Graduate Management Traineeship with the National Bank of Malawi (1993–1994).

Mr. Bota holds a Master of Science degree in Development and Project Planning from the University of Bradford’s Development Centre (BCID) in the United Kingdom, obtained in 2003. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences, majoring in Economics, from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College, completed in 1993.