By Pemphero Malimba:
Some concerned teachers who worked as registration centre supervisors in the second phase of the voter registration exercise have expressed concern over what they call failure by the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) to fulfill its financial obligations.
Representatives of at least 89 supervisors, who consist of head teachers and deputy head teachers who worked in Blantyre City, say Mec has failed to honour a payment of K80, 000 honorarium which was supposed to be paid to each one of them.
According to the representatives, supervisors were initially informed that they would receive K403, 000 at the end of the phase but were shocked to receive K323, 000.
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“This amount falls short of the agreed payment as outlined above and communicated to us before and during the voter registration exercise, which lasted 14 days.
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“Despite follow-up communication with the district elections officer, who assured us that the outstanding amount would be paid after accounting reconciliations, we were later informed, through WhatsApp, on 23 November 2024 that there had been misinformation regarding the total amount we were to receive.
“We were told not to expect any further payment beyond the K323,000 already disbursed,” this is contained in a letter signed by representatives Cornelious Mwalure, Thokozani Kamwachale, Blessings Kafumbwe, Ethel Mapeto Jimu and Mercy Manja.
The letter has been directed to Blantyre District Council and Mec officials.
The supervisors feel that the move is a breach of written and verbal agreements which were made.
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“We consider this a breach of both written and verbal agreements made by your office….If there was, indeed, a mistake in the communication, we would seek clarification,” the letter reads.
Among other things, the supervisors have asked the authorities to clarify the matter, saying failure to act on it would compromise the credibility of electoral processes.
“Failure to address these issues risks undermining trust and morale among personnel tasked with ensuring credible elections in Malawi,” the letter reads.
Mwalure told The Daily Times yesterday that they had delivered the letter to the authorities pending their action.
“We delivered the letter to one of their [Mec’s] accountants and he assured us that they would give the letter to the right people,” he said.
Mec communications officer Richard Mveriwa declined to comment on the matter.
But on Saturday, Mveriwa told The Daily Times that he was not aware of the situation with the supervisors and that he needed time to follow up on the matter.
Mec conducted phase 2 of the voter registration exercise in Nkhata Bay, Rumphi, Likoma, Kasungu, Kasungu Municipality, Dowa, Mchinji, Ntcheu, Zomba, Zomba City, Blantyre, Blantyre City, Thyolo and Luchenza.
The commission carried out the phase from November 9 to 22 2024.
Currently, the commission is conducting the last phase of the voter registration exercise in Lilongwe, Lilongwe City, Mzimba, Mangochi, Mangochi municipality, Mwanza, Chikwawa and Nsanje districts.
The phase runs up to December 11 2024.
So far, preliminary figures indicate that over 4.6 million people have registered in the voter registration exercises, which commenced on October 21 2024.
Of the figure, over 2.2 million people registered in the first phase while over 2.4 million people registered in the second phase, which ended on November 22 2024.
