Electoral civic educators contradict UNDP on funding,Electoral civic educators contradict UNDP on funding
by: Pilirani Semu-Banda,Pilirani Semu-Banda, 12/29/2003, 5:25:19 PM

The Malawi Electoral Support Network (Mesn) comprising 21 organisations accredited to carry out civic and voter education said on Monday they have received very little funding to carry out the task, contradicting United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative Zahra Nhuru who said funding has been made available to all the NGOs.
Mesn coordinator Moses Mkandawire said in an interview “it is very likely that the elections will neither be free nor fair and donors will shoulder some of the blame because they have failed to give us enough funding”.
Mkandawire said only 6 of the 21 accredited NGOs have received “about 5 percent of the their budget”.
He said the money that the NGOs got was from the Malawi/German Programme for Democracy and Decentralisation (MGPDD) and not from any other donor.
“If at all, the money most NGOs are using was supposed to go towards the promotion of democracy and not directly linked to elections,” said Mkandawire.
However, Nhuru, whose organisation is administering the basket-funding for all donors for elections, said she knew that the NGOs have been funded from “different funding pockets”.
“There could be a few who haven’t been funded but this could be because they have been found not to have the capacity to carry out the civic education exercise,” said Nhuru.
Nhuru, who together with other donors for the May 18, 2004 elections including British High Commissioner Norman Ling, American Ambassador Steven Browning, Usaid representative Roger Yochelson and Royal Norwegian Embassy counsellor Kristin Sverdrup visited a registration centre and the Information Technology centre for the Electoral Commission (EC) in the commercial capital Blantyre also said UNDP was impressed with the preparations being done by the EC on the elections.
“It looks like there is seriousness in the preparations,” said Nhuru.
Ling said he saw that the preparations were “certainly at an advanced stage but hoped that they {EC} will be efficient in conducting the elections.
When asked if the donors have confidence in the EC, Browning said it should not be the donors having confidence but the citizens of Malawi.
“The elections are for the citizens of Malawi so it’s them that the Electoral Commission should convince,” said Browning.
Both Sverdrup and Yochelson also said they were satisfied with the preparations towards the elections.

,
The Malawi Electoral Support Network (Mesn) comprising 21 organisations accredited to carry out civic and voter education said on Monday they have received very little funding to carry out the task, contradicting United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative Zahra Nhuru who said funding has been made available to all the NGOs.
Mesn coordinator Moses Mkandawire said in an interview “it is very likely that the elections will neither be free nor fair and donors will shoulder some of the blame because they have failed to give us enough funding”.
Mkandawire said only 6 of the 21 accredited NGOs have received “about 5 percent of the their budget”.
He said the money that the NGOs got was from the Malawi/German Programme for Democracy and Decentralisation (MGPDD) and not from any other donor.
“If at all, the money most NGOs are using was supposed to go towards the promotion of democracy and not directly linked to elections,” said Mkandawire.
However, Nhuru, whose organisation is administering the basket-funding for all donors for elections, said she knew that the NGOs have been funded from “different funding pockets”.
“There could be a few who haven’t been funded but this could be because they have been found not to have the capacity to carry out the civic education exercise,” said Nhuru.
Nhuru, who together with other donors for the May 18, 2004 elections including British High Commissioner Norman Ling, American Ambassador Steven Browning, Usaid representative Roger Yochelson and Royal Norwegian Embassy counsellor Kristin Sverdrup visited a registration centre and the Information Technology centre for the Electoral Commission (EC) in the commercial capital Blantyre also said UNDP was impressed with the preparations being done by the EC on the elections.
“It looks like there is seriousness in the preparations,” said Nhuru.
Ling said he saw that the preparations were “certainly at an advanced stage but hoped that they {EC} will be efficient in conducting the elections.
When asked if the donors have confidence in the EC, Browning said it should not be the donors having confidence but the citizens of Malawi.
“The elections are for the citizens of Malawi so it’s them that the Electoral Commission should convince,” said Browning.
Both Sverdrup and Yochelson also said they were satisfied with the preparations towards the elections.