Revelations of Malawi Government’s K4 billion payout to Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) a day before the May 21 election have filled up social media.
Malawians on social media have questioned the deposit after a cheque from Treasury to an account named Chief Elections Officer was leaked.
Social media users noted that most banks do not accept accounts named after a position in an organisation and they wondered how the MEC Chief Elections Officer account was opened at FDH Bank.
There were also claims on social media that the leaked cheque supported allegations that officers at MEC helped rig the May 21 elections. Currently, UTM and Malawi Congress Party are challenging the results of the polls.
“And why did FDH Bank accepted to open an account in such a name?” asked one social media user.
Another one wrote: “Am curious if this is how we have always run our organizations. Was that money for the person or the organization activities? That is too much money to steal.”
Other social media users offered explanations as to why MEC opened such an account. They said government could not deposit money into the main MEC account because the process of funds clearance takes longer to process and clear and delays would have resulted in the MEC being unable to pay elections staff on time.
Meanwhile, MEC has released a statement saying that the account is a legitimate bank account name and is one of the several bank accounts that the Commission has with commercial banks in the country.
“The Commission would like to state, in very strong terms, that this is not a personal account of Mr Sam Alfandika. This is a proper corporate bank account with seven signatories with various levels of authority or mandate as the case with all corporate bank accounts.
“It is a normal practice for public institutions to have an account after the title of the organization, the principal secretary or indeed the Chief Executive Officer for the ministry, department or public institution,” MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa said in the statement.
