Malawi donors demand fresh EC audit
Traditional donors of the Electoral Commission (EC) have demanded another audit of the institution before they can start pumping money into preparations for the 2014 tripartite elections.
Sources have disclosed that the donors were not satisfied with the last audit sanctioned by the late president Bingu wa Mutharika at the height of fraud allegations at the electoral body.
National Audit Office (NAO) corporate communications officer Thomas Chafunya, in an interview on Wednesday, confirmed that government has communicated to the Auditor General on the need for another audit at the EC.
Chafunya, however, said government is yet to provide terms of reference (ToRs) for the audit to take off. He also confirmed that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) would fund the whole exercise.
“Yes, indeed we were communicated [to] by government that we have to do audit of the Electoral Commission. But we are yet to be communicated to on the ToRs because we are not sure if the audit will be substantive or just an additional to what was done already,” said Chafunya.
He added: “What we know for sure is that UNDP is funding the audit process. But for what we should look for and other things, we are waiting to hear from government.”
EC chairperson Supreme Court Judge Anastasia Msosa said although she was not aware that government has sanctioned an audit, the exercise was welcome and not strange.
Asked if the audit would not affect the calendar of events in the run up to 2014 elections, Msosa said: “I do not know. I think they know what they are doing. But it is alright, they have to audit and these audits are not strange.”
Malawi Electoral Support Network (Mesn) chairperson Aloisious Nthenda said his organisation would not have a problem with the audit if the aim was to address good governance and prudent financial management.
Nthenda, however, said the exercise should be done in a speedy manner to avoid affecting the electoral calendar for the 2014 tripartite elections.
A report on factual findings of the forensic investigation into alleged financial mismanagement at the EC issued by KPMG in March 2011 revealed that over K467 million (about $1.87 million) could not be verified due to lack of documentation. The initial sum that was the subject of investigation was K1.6 billion (about $6.4 million), but K1.1 billion (about $4.4 million) was verified by KPMG during the audit.
Despite these findings, it is reported that the donors, who pump billions into the operations of the commission and the running of elections, have requested the Joyce Banda administration to authorise another audit to verify the figures, said the source.
“It is true that there is a demand from the donors that before they start pumping money to the Electoral Commission, another audit has to take place,” said the source.
The March 2011 report came after another audit done by PriceWaterhouse Coopers in 2010 faulted the EC for failing to produce financial documents required by the auditors.
In response to the pre-audit report, the commission said there was total breakdown of systems during the period under review, explaining that a lot of basic procedures were not carried out in the right manner.
Mutharika suspended the commission in 2010 after an audit report showed that K1.6 billion disappeared from the EC’s coffers without supporting documents.
