Mera yet to recover k3bn

Six months after Treasury ordered Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) to refund K3 billion illegally diverted from the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF), the energy regulator is yet to act.
Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development spokesperson Nations Msowoya confirmed in an interview yesterday that Mera is yet to refund the money as ordered by the Secretary to the Treasury (ST).
He said the ministry has since written Mera a reminder about its obligation.

Msowoya said since the demand was made, there has been several communications between Treasury and Mera regarding the issue of refunding the money to PSF.
The PSF is an account that accumulates funds from fuel pump sales to cushion any rises in fuel products that would raise inflation.
Said Msowoya: “But, in summary, what was required was a detailed forensic audit to be conducted and that has just been finalised and presented to the board of directors of Mera to give them a basis for making that refund.”
The spokesperson said the audit was sanctioned by Mera’s board of directors to appreciate the details of the transaction.
“This is not small amount of money and I think they needed to make arrangements on how they will refund. But now they should be able to say how and when they are likely to refund the money,” he said.
In February this year, Mera diverted K2.964 billion from PSF to enable State produce trader Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) to buy maize, a decision the Ministry of Finance described as illegal as it contravened the Public Finance Management Act.
Following revelations of the scam by our sister newspaper, Weekend Nation soon after the transaction, on May 19 2016 ST Ronald Mangani demanded an immediate suspension and prosecution of key officers for ill-advising the board of directors in the matter and refund of the money.

Yesterday, Mera acting chief executive officer (CEO) Ishmael Chioko said the matter was being handled by the board of directors.
However, when contacted, Mera board chairperson Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe said they were still working on the matter and would provide the board’s position next week.
He said: “We have not completed working on the matter. We are still looking at it so we will call you next week for thorough information.”
In August, Mera board sent on forced leave the parastatal’s CEO Raphael Kamoto and his director of finance Elias Hausi to pave the way for investigations into the matter.
The decision followed a meeting between Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe and Bvumbwe alongside his Roads Authority (RA) counterpart Jackson Gomani to check progress on allegations of abuse of office at the two institutions.
At RA, CEO engineer Trevor Hiwa, now suspended, was reportedly found guilty of awarding a K217 million contract in a World Bank-funded project to Infracom, a company in which he is said to have interests.
Admarc CEO Foster Mulumbe did not pick his phone when called several times yesterday to find out how his organisation plans to refund the K3 billion. 