MEC broke, elections under threat

Malawi Electoral Commission (EC) has delayed implementation of the electoral calendar because it has no money to start preparations for the 2014 tripartite elections as government did not consider a K1.8 billion (about $4.5m) advance allocation during the Mid-Term Budget Review, The Nation has learnt.

The commission initially submitted a K12.4 billion (about $3.1m) election budget which has since been revised upwards to K18.4 billion (about $46m).

The MEC, however, asked for the K1.8 billion advance for preparatory activities that could not wait for the 2013/14 National Budget that will only become effective on July 1 this year.

Well-placed sources in the commission revealed that the calendar of events in preparation for the three polls—Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections—has been affected by a lack of funding.

The commission, according to the source, was supposed to have launched the elections and also the registration of voters exercise early this month, but the two major events have been put on hold.

Lack of govt commitment

Said the source: “The seriousness of government has been put into question because elections are not an emergency. We know that every five years, we have elections. In fact, we know the exact date, but we are acting as if we had been caught off guard.

“As we speak, there is no money for us to launch the elections. We were supposed to have already started the registration exercise. We cannot do these things because we have no money.”

Another source said the commission submitted a small budget for consideration during the Mid-Term Budget Review to enable it kick-start preparations while waiting for a comprehensive budget.

“To the surprise of the commission, there was nothing allocated to the commission for the activities that were supposed to be implemented from that time to June. So, we are stuck right now,” said the source.

In an interview, MEC director of media and public relations Sangwani Mwafulirwa confirmed that the commission’s K1.8 billion budget submitted for mid-term review was not considered.

“The Malawi Electoral Commission did submit to government last year a budget of K1.8 billion for activities to be implemented up to June this year in preparation for the elections. Why this was not included in the mid-term budget, the government is better placed to explain.

“However, there has been an arrangement with Treasury that government will be advancing money to the Malawi Electoral Commission whenever need arises to implement the electoral activities. Government has since then advanced to the commission money for ward demarcation,” he said.

Mwafulirwa said government has so far released K240 million (about $600 000) to the commission for the 2014 tripartite elections preparatory activities which, he said, “was used to conduct public hearings on ward demarcations”.

Electoral calendar

He said MEC has not released the electoral calendar because there have been changes in the implementation of the activities due to the adjustments to the budget.

“Malawi Electoral Commission submitted a draft budget [K12.4 billion] to government in August last year for the 2014 tripartite elections. However, a budget is a living document which keeps on changing when deliberated on. The final figure that has been agreed with government is K18.4 billion,” he said.

He said the budget has risen due to, among others, the increase in fuel prices, depreciation of the kwacha against the dollar which meant more money would be required to buy registration and polling materials and general price increase on the international markets for the registration and polling equipment.

“Since we will be using the Optical Mark Recognition, which is largely paper-based, the commission will employ quality control managers who will be placed at every registration centre to ensure that the quality of registration data meets the minimum set standards. This has also contributed to the upward adjustment of the budget,” he said.

He attributed the change in the date for the launch of the elections to other activities happening within the commission and consultations with other stakeholders.

Mwafulirwa said: “At the launch, the commission was expected to release the electoral calendar and brief all stakeholders on how it plans to manage the elections. Shifting date for the launch does not mean that activities that were supposed to happen thereafter will not take place, they will still take place and these include recruitment and training of staff and procurement of equipment.”

The publicist said preparations for the 2014 tripartite elections have not been affected despite the budget request not being incorporated because government has been releasing advance funding to implement electoral activities which is expected to be normalised when Parliament meets.

“However, it should be noted that if government does not advance funding to the commission for the activities it wants to implement between May and June this year then the preparations of the elections will be affected. There will indeed be an impact,” he said.

“The commission has planned to start registration on July 1 2013 and at the moment, we are doing everything possible to roll out registration on this date. At the moment, we cannot say that there has been a delay to start registration since the date has not passed. However, it should be mentioned that the commission may be forced to change the date if government does not release funding,” he said.

Mwafulirwa also disclosed that so far, there was no commitment from any of the development partners on the amount they are going to contribute towards the electoral budget.

Delay was anticipated

But Malawi Electoral Support Network (Mesn) publicity secretary Steven Duwa said the delay was anticipated from way back considering the slow pace at which issues about the tripartite elections have been handled by various stakeholders, especially the government.

Said Duwa: “The delay in coming up with the electoral calendar, the delay in approving the election budget, the delay in concluding the harmonisation of electoral laws meant that implementation of the entire electoral process was going to be compromised at some point as we move closer to the election date.

“Given this situation, one is bound to believe that there is lack of political will to facilitate smooth preparations for these elections. Ideally, MEC should have been given enough funds during the Mid-Term Budget Review to enable it to carry on preparations and yet this did not happen.”

He said government was under obligation to fund the commission’s activities according to its plans and not depending on donor support because these were Malawian elections.

“This is where lack of political will comes in or manifests itself. By not funding MEC on activities related to elections in between the ballots, it puts MEC under pressure to do a lot of things within a short period of time.

“On our part as CSOs, we cannot plan when to commence our activities of providing civic education. We need to source funds from donors and this is a big challenge in the absence of official calendar and even an approved election budget,” he said.

Duwa, who commended MEC for its transparency, has appealed for “immediate” release of the electoral calendar and for government, including Parliament, to prioritise the elections budget and amendment of electoral laws during this sitting of the august House.

National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) executive director Ollen Mwalubunju said Malawi was lucky that the election date was clearly stipulated in the Constitution which could enable the country to have a better level of preparedness than the current state of affairs.

Said Mwalubunju in an interview: “It is unfortunate for Malawi in that, our leadership over the years at political and administrative levels, have not been serious when it comes to planning for elections.”

He said the commission gave Nice and other stakeholders a provisional electoral calendar which has enabled his organisation to start civic and voter education with funding from the European Union.

“Let me appeal to Parliament that at its budget sitting session that begins on 17 May [today], let it make sufficient money available for elections. Let them make timely funding to MEC and accredited civic education providers as time is not there, if Malawi is to achieve a credible electoral process,” he said.

Finance Minister Ken Lipenga and Treasury spokesperson Nations Msowoya did not respond to a questionnaire sent to them on Wednesday this week to explain the rationale and legality of advancing piecemeal funds to MEC that Parliament did not approve when a budget was presented for him to seek House approval. We also asked him on the implications of the Joyce Banda administration’s lukewarm commitment to elections funding.

Our telephone follow-ups with the minister failed to yield responses.