Reported By Andrew Mkonda:
The Office of Registrar of Political Parties in Malawi (ORPP) has applauded the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) for submitting the financial report of the 2023-24 financial year state funding it received from Treasury through Parliament as stipulated in Political Parties Act.
Registrar of Political Parties, Dr. Kizito Tenthani was speaking on Monday in Lilongwe during a press briefing aimed at informing the general public on what his office has done so far since he took office in June last year.
Tenthani said that according to the Political Parties Act, only two parties that have one tenth of the national votes in parliamentary elections are entitled to state funding and these are Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
However, Tenthani says only the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has presented its financial report to his office regarding the funding and DPP is yet to submit the report on the usage of the funding.
“Our office is doing all it can to engage the leadership of the DPP so that we get their financial report. Failing to submit it, will result some penalties according to the law,” he said.
According to Tenthani, the two political parties, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), have benefited from over K700 million in State funding from the treasury through parliament over the past five years.
Tenthani further said, according to parliament, from the 2019-2020 to 2023-2024 financial year, the DPP has received over K360 million, while MCP has received over K352 million from the treasury through parliament.
Regarding private funding from political parties, Dr. Tenthani stated that no political party has come forward to disclose their sources of funding. However, his office is aware that different political parties have been using and are still using undisclosed sources of funding, warning that his office will investigate them.
Currently, Tenthani has also disclosed that his office has received three new applications of political parties and that his office is analysing them before determining whether or not to register them.
Meanwhile, Malawi has got 24 registered political parties.
