‘Some MEC registration officers not paid’

Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) is yet to settle payment balances for over 700 of the 2 000 officers it hired to carry out the voter registration exercise.

MEC has confirmed the delay in paying some officers, who were expected to get their payments fortnightly, attributing the holdup to bank challenges.

Speaking on behalf of those affected, an officer who opted for anonymity said some of the officers have not yet received their payments for previous phases while others were owed in arrears dating back to the third phase.

“Some have not been paid dating back to phases three, four and five while some are owed in arrears in accumulation from previous phases,” he said.

The concerned officer accused MEC of paying them in piece meal with some owed balances of about K12 000 in each phase.

“We have been trying to engage MEC to resolve this issue. They keep promising us that they are processing the money.  We are still consulting on what course of action we should take,” said the officer, who is owed K142 000.

But MEC director of media and public relations Sangwani Mwafulirwa claimed the officers were paid their dues, save for a few isolated cases where transactions were not successful because of bank details.

“We are remaining with isolated cases whereby the transactions were not successful because of bank details. Such cases are being cleared out now,” he said, without giving the number of affected officers and how much they are owed.

In August this year, the registration officers threatened to boycott their work demanding an increment in their remuneration package from K120 000 to K190 000.

However, MEC revised the package from K120 000 to K130 000 per fortnight.

MEC conducted a nationwide registration exercise in eight phases from June 26 to November 9 2018 where 6.8 million people registered to vote in the May 2019 Tripartite Elections.

MEC is next month may require services of the temporary staff to conduct a voter verification exercise for the elections.