PAC wants Malawi govt to fund forensic audit on electoral kit
Quasi-religious, the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) says it is the responsibility of government to fund the forensic audit on the missing but found Malawi Electoral Commission biometric voter registration kit.
PAC chairperson Father Felix Chingota said his organization would be meeting government officials to discuss on the matter.
This follows sentiments from minister of Information and government spokesperson Henry Mussa who flatly refused that the government would fund the independent auditor political parties and other stakeholders want to carry out forensic audit on the missing but found voter biometric kit.
Mussa said the government operates under guided budget line therefore it would be impossible to bring in unbudgeted line.
“PAC (quasi-religious body, Public Affairs Committee) must have a budget line to take care of such contingencies. It can never be true that the government should just jump into and say we will fund it,” said Mussa.
He said this after PAC officials and other electoral stakeholders who met in Blantyre agreed to find an independent auditor to carry out the exercise after the missing kit was found in Mozambique, raising fears that it might have been tampered for rigging purposes.
But Chingota said this is a crucial exercise which the government should use tax payer money to fund for the credibility of the May 21 polls.
Fingers are pointing at the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that it schemed the whole operation in a bid to rig the elections, an allegation denied by the party.
Mussa said PAC can easily contact donors who can fund such an exercise.
The issue of the missing but found voter biometric kit was received with mixed reactions with other quarters of the society asking Malawi Electoral Commission chairperson Jane Ansah to resign.
Government would have funded the Forensic Audit at lightning speed had the aggrieved party been DPP.. This clearly shows DPP, through Ansah, are party to the rigging scheme.