Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says the burglars who broke into its Lilongwe office did not steal anything and the incident is being treated as an ordinary break-in by petty thieves.
MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa said this in a statement on Wednesday.
The thieves broke into MEC’s Regional Offices located in Area 3 in Lilongwe on Monday night where they managed to open a window and cut bars.
According to Mwafulirwa, there were footprints indicating that the thieves entered inside but they did not steal anything since items such as computers, unmounted television screen, radio and small items were found intact.
“On this the Commission would categorically dispel rumours and media reports that three computers and cameras (CCTV) have been stolen.
“However, the burglars disengaged the cables to the CCVT system but did not steal the cameras. We suspect they might have pulled off the cables to avoid being captured on cameras,” Mwafulirwa said.
He added that the Commission is treating this an ordinary break-in incident by petty thieves because there are no critical electoral activities taking place at the Lilongwe office.
“The Commission is tempted to suspect that the burglars thought that there was huge cash at the MEC regional office considering that the previous day there was payment of allowances for accounts officers that are involved in paying poll staff that MEC is currently training,” he said.
Meanwhile, security officers – two armed police officers from the Malawi Police Service and two from SWOOP security – who were on duty on the night have been interrogated by the police.
MEC says the four officers did not know about the burglary until it was noticed by MEC staff in the morning.
