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MEC is broke again

Mwafulirwa: There  is no funding
Mwafulirwa: There is no funding

Nothing seems to be moving at the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) secretariat, where lack of funding from government has paralysed the organisation to the point of failing to roll out activities on its calendar, Nation on Sunday has established.

The commission’s spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa sounded the alarm in an exclusive interview this week, saying MEC, currently saddled with a K1 billion debt, is failing to implement planned programmes such as re-demarcation of constituencies and the introduction of the biometric voter registration system because its accounts are in red as the organisation has not been receiving funding from government.

Said Mwafulirwa: “We planned to start implementing some of these activities now because we want to take ‘a cycle approach’ to elections. We don’t want to wait for 2019 because that puts a lot of pressure on the system and strains the [national] budget.

“Spreading electoral activities over the five-year period is a better approach, but we can’t do anything because there is no funding.”

He said the 2014/15 National Budget only provided funding for MEC’s operations and by-elections.

The Ministry of Finance has also said it is aware of MEC’s predicament and is “working out on solutions.”

Mwafulirwa said the commission is still planning to implement the hi-tech [biometric] voter registration system which was abandoned before the May 20 Tripartite Elections this year due to time and financial constraints.

“We failed to implement it this year because we didn’t have enough time to procure the system, train people, test and run it. It was more of a time factor not cost; that is why we wanted to start the implementation now,” he said of the system, which uses fingerprints and facial features to identify voters.

Ministry of Finance spokesperson Nations Msowoya this week admitted that Treasury has not been funding the commission, adding that the bigger problem with MEC is payment arrears.

“It is true funding has not trickled down to MEC as we would have loved. We will be discussing with the commission on areas of need .Past liabilities at MEC will be audited and passed on to the Treasury,” said Msowoya.

National Democratic Institute (NDI) executive director Kizito Tenthani concurred with Mwafulirwa on the need for the elections to be treated as a cycle not as an event as it has been happening in the past.

“Some changes are [however] being noticed. For example, the meetings that were taking place with political parties, MEC and other stakeholders are still continuing.

“As NDI we are organising meetings for political parties to discuss what happened during the 2014 general elections and [so that] the lessons learnt will be applied to the future elections,” he said.

Tenthani said election stakeholders have also proposed that government should be budgeting for the national polls every year not towards the election only.

“But that would depend on the commitment of government,” he said.

Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace national coordinator Chris Chisoni expressed surprise that Parliament did not find it necessary to include funding for the electoral activities in the budget “considering the technical and logistical challenges the just-ended elections faced”.

“It is a worrisome discovery. It is not giving confidence that MEC will depart from the electoral mess that has been experienced in the last elections.

“The problem in Malawi is that elections are viewed as belonging to MEC such that other stakeholders do not push for the funding of MEC activities,” he said.

Chisoni called on Parliament to consider funding MEC electoral activities during the mid-term review of the budget. He also asked MEC to start working with civil society organisations in building capacity to remedy the situation.

But Public Affairs Committee (PAC) executive director Robert Phiri said while it is imperative that MEC gets funding for its activities in line with spinning the wheels of the electoral process, priority now is to ensure that electoral reforms are implemented.

“It is understood in all national elections consultative forum meetings that have been taking place after the 2014 general elections that elections must be a cycle not an event.

“However, it is also understood that our electoral system has to be reformed. The outcome of the reforms will define the future activities of MEC activities. The earlier we come clear about the reforms the better,” he said.

The lack of funding, according to Mwafulirwa, has also affected MEC’s settlement of debts for services and materials provided to the commission during the May 2014 Tripartite Elections.

According to Mwafulirwa, the electoral body owes almost K1 billion to local and external suppliers some of whom have threatened MEC with legal action.

MEC also owes private practice lawyers that represented it in court during matters that were taken to court during the past elections, according to Mwafulirwa.

He said the commission is particularly sympathetic to unpaid small entrepreneurs who provided services such as food at the main tally centre, Comesa Hall in Blantyre.

Said Mwafulirwa: “Our worry is that the kwacha is falling daily, if they are to receive the money today, it would not be the same as it would have been five months ago. International suppliers are better off because they will get their money in dollars.

“It is a pity we can’t just get this funding from government. We understand the current economic hardship the country is going through, but we expect government to bail us out.”

He said MEC is also yet to settle advertisement charges for both print and electronic media houses plus some local printers.

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