Treasury warns MEC on audit report
Treasury has warned Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to stop calling the recent findings commissioned by Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development as a draft report and instead act on its findings.
Speaking exclusively to The Nation, Secretary to the Treasury Ronald Mangani said the report is final and that failure to act on it will prompt Treasury to share the report with other partners beyond MEC staff.
submit another one
He said: “As far as we are concerned, the report we submitted to Malawi Electoral Commission in respect to the audit report [and] all consultations were made. We will not revise or submit another one, as far we are concerned, we have finished our work.
“We are going to determine on the appropriate way forward, but if we are convinced that corrupt practices are evident, we have to share the report with appointing authorities such as law enforcement agencies to act on this matter.”
According to Mangani, the public is expecting the electoral body to act on the findings.
But MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafuliwa said Treasury has not incorporated MEC’s findings into their report and has further not availed to them the findings of the report.
“Regarding the status on the audit report, I have not been furnished with any contrary information as communicated to media earlier on. The audit report has not considered responses from MEC as per procedure, so it is inconclusive and no action will be taken until finalised.
In September this year, our sister newspaper, Weekend Nation, reported on findings of a special investigative audit of MEC that found that there was gross financial mismanagement and flouting of procedures between July 2012 and December 2014.
In a letter to MEC chairperson Maxon Mbendera dated September 28 2015, Mangani observed that findings of the audit exposed worrisome violations of relevant laws, notably the Public Finance Management Act of 2003.
The audit was conducted by the Central Internal Audit Unit under the Ministry of Finance following allegations of financial misconduct and fraud in procurement and recruitment procedures by the institution’s management. n
