Analysts blame high campaign expenses to poor MPs performance
Analysts have blamed the poor performance of some members of parliament to the high expenses candidates spend to win their seats during campaign.
Humphrey Mvula, a renowned political analyst said members of parliament are more interested in recovering their money when they win an election as opposed to performing to the people’s expectations.
“They take politics as an investment, that is the problem so when they win the seat, they are preoccupied with moves to recover their money,” said Mvula.
Mvula’s comments follow a report which shows that average parliamentary candidate in the 2019 election spent a total of K14.8 million seeking election in both primaries and general elections.
The report, entitled ‘the cost of politics in Malawi’ by Dr. Michael Wahman of Michigan University says this number include all candidates, even those with little or no chance of being elected.
The report says looking only at candidates that won more than 20 per cent of the vote, the average is K27 million which is 140 per cent of legislators’ annual salary.
Kaisi Sadala, another commentator said there is now need for the Political Parties Act which bars handouts to be fully operational to stop this.
The Act became operational in December, 2018.
The report says male candidates spent 14 per cent than female candidates.
Candidates running for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spent 48 per cent more than candidates running for UTM and 61 per cent more than candidates running for MCP.
