MEC ordered to pay monitors
The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to pay allowances to 31 primary school teachers who were hired to monitor the 2004 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.
The concerned teachers wrote Ombudsman Tujilane Chizumila, complaining that MEC was dragging its feet to pay them honorarium, totalling K895 440 (US$2 168), after they worked as monitors for the country’s third democratic elections.
In a letter to the Ombudsman dated November 9 2012, the teachers express concern over the unwillingness by the electoral body to pay them.
“We, therefore, seek your intervention on the matter,” reads the letter in part.
In her determination, Chizumila rebuked MEC management for failing to honour its obligations on people it hires during elections.
She then ordered the electoral body to pay the teachers in the soonest time possible, warning further delays would amount to violation of workers’ rights.
MEC has since paid the allowances, according to the Office of the Ombudsman.
