Police flout procedures on traffic fees

The Malawi Police Service (MPS) directly uses fines it collects on behalf of government which is contrary to the Public Finance Management Act, Nation on Sunday has established.

When interviewed several times on the issue this week, former inspector general (IG) of police Lot Dzonzi said he would come back to the newspaper. But he did not do so till we went to press.

But his successor, Paul Kanyama, speaking soon after his appointment was announced at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre yesterday, said the issue of police using government money at the point of collection is the most difficult thing to deal with because much as the authority is aware of the illegality of the practice, they cannot stop doing it because it helps to curb crime.

Kanyama, however, said police have to use the money collected at the stations without permission from the Secretary to the Treasury because they cannot stop providing security in the country because of lack of money.

“We know it is against the laws but we cannot close security because of money. Normally, we refund the money that we use once we are funded,” he said.

Kanyama said he is aware that the money government provided in the national budget is not enough to fight crime in the country and that police will be looking for other source of funding outside government.

“We engage other stakeholders for funding as it is clear that the current funding is not enough. We will reach out to the corporate world for assistance,” he said.

The MPS, among other mandates, renders services and collects fines from some offenders on behalf of government and these fines are expected to be remitted to government’s Account Number One.

However, a police source earlier confided in Nation on Sunday that due to low funding, police stations across the country flout the legal financial requirement.

In the 2014/15 national budget, MPS was allocated K12 billion of which K8 billion was for crime policing and maintaining public order while the remainder is for personal emoluments.

For example, according to 2014/15 national budget estimates, Blantyre Police Station was given an annual allocation of K44.5 million, translating to about K3.7 million a month, Lilongwe Police Station received K61 million, translating to K5 million a month while Mzuzu was allocated K35 million, translating to K2.9 million per month.

A police headquarters source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the malpractice, but defended the tendency, arguing it is the only alternative way of effectively funding the stations, citing security reasons and emergency situations.

The source said while they recognise the malpractice, admitting it is illegal and against the Public Finance Management Act, the short cut is tolerated because it is the only option to ensure effective police operations.

Said the source: “Police management is aware of the situation and it has been discussed in several meetings. Police understand that the tendency is against the Public Finance Management Act, but there are few options other than to allow that to happen.”

The source cited Blantyre Police Station which he said has over 10 sub-stations within its jurisdiction, but only receives an average monthly allocation of K1.4 million for Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT), which is not enough.

With the K1.4 million, according to the source, the station is expected to provide fuel for all vehicles that are under its jurisdiction, purchase stationery, buy electricity units for the station and other sub-stations as well as service its debts which currently stand at K16 million.

The source also said Lilongwe Urban Police, another big policing area, needs K2 million for fuel only, which is well below its expected monthly allocation.

The source said while the use of government money at source is not ‘officially’ sanctioned by Area 30 authorities, police management usually advises officers at stations that are under any financial predicaments to use their ‘initiative’. And ‘initiative’ in police language is understood by many officers to mean they can use money that the service collects on behalf of Treasury for their operations.

But according to the law, all monies collected on behalf of government are supposed to be remitted to Account Number One which is housed at the Reserve Bank of Malawi.

Ministry of Finance spokesperson Nations Msowoya described the situation as “unfortunate”:

Said the spokesperson: “It is not only police that is facing challenges in funding. Almost all government departments face challenges but they do not use government money at source. We will send a team of officers to investigate what is going on in the police service.”

However, some government agencies that collect money on behalf of Treasury are given about five percent of the funds to be used at source, but The Nation on Sunday source claimed police does not benefit from this arrangement.

On whether the police is audited and why the malpracticehas never been detected so far, given that the MPS is supposed to remit funds to government periodically, National Audit Office (NAO) corporate communications officer Thomas Chafunya, speaking generally in an e-mail response, said: “They [the police] are covered within normal audits as stipulated in the Public Audit Act. Investigative audits only arise after we have seen some serious anomalies where controls are flouted and more work needs to be done.”

Chafunya said NAO normally communicates its findings to the controlling officer and seeks an explanation.

“Depending on the explanation we get from the controlling officers on why they used funds at source; that is, putting to use funds collected such as fines and penalties without banking into Government Account Number One, the Auditor General can drop the query completely,” he said.

Chafunya said the dropping of a query can only happen if the Auditor General is satisfied that all procedures are correctly followed.

“If not convinced, the Auditor General will include this in his report [to Parliament]. It is also important to know that controlling officers are advised to report to law-enforcers such as the Fiscal Police if the audit findings flagged out some irregular transactions which are fraud in nature and report to the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) if they are corruption in nature.

“All revenues such as fines and penalties collected on behalf of government must be banked into Government Account Number One as the law requires. These need not be remitted to the Malawi Revenue Authority. The controlling officer within the confinements of the law can seek authority from the Secretary to the Treasury who will grant a warrant to spend for the controlling officer to use the funds based on valid and convincing reasons,” said Chafunya.

Meanwhile, chairperson of the Defence and Security Committee of Parliament Enock Chihana said his committee is aware of the financial constraints that police is going through and partly blames the government payment system which he says frustrates law-enforcing institutions.

Said Chihana: “We have made recommendations that police and Immigration should be retaining one percent of the money they collect on behalf of government like the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) do.”

Chihana agreed that police faces challenges to get funding for emergencies “since the government paying system is cumbersome and frustrating”.

“…Every cheque has to go through the office of the Accountant General and by the time the money is out, it will take days and the emergency is gone. That is why we recommended that police and Immigration should be retaining one per cent of the money the station has collected for emergencies,” said Chihana.

He said his committee is not happy with the fact that government did not incorporate their recommendations on the issue in the 2014/15 national budget.

In his latest statements, President Peter Mutharika has repeatedly said his administration will allocate the police adequate resources and finances for their operations, especially in curbing crime in the country.