Millenium Villages Scandal: $$Pension funds disappeared ?! Staffers drag UNDP to court in Malawi.

S C A N D A L 

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Former workers for the Millennium Villages Programme (MVP) in the country have threatened to drag the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) Malawi office to the industrial relations court for failure to pay out their pension, two years after their contracts expired.

Seventeen former MVP employees who were contract service holders with UNDP between 2006 and 2011 argue that the UN headquarters duly authorised payment of the said pension, but that the local office 'for unknown reasons' has been silent for two years.

In an email reponse o n M o n d a y, UNDP Communications Assistant Steven Kamponda said his office is aware about the issue, but is yet to make any decision.

Lawyer for the ex-employees Timothy Kalembo, has warned the UN body he would be commencing court proceedings if the payment is not made within 14 days from December 6, last year.

"Our clients have now instructed us that your office should make proper arrangements, enabling them to sign the certificate of no contest as required by their contracts and pay them their pension within 14 days.

"If we do not hear from you within the stated period, our clients have instructed us, we shall commence legal proceedings against you, without informing you whatsoever," reads a letter signed for by Kalembo.

The letter says despite persistent reminders on the matter, nothing has been done.

"Our cl ients have attempted to remind your honourable office to fulfil this contractual obligation, to no avail. They strongly contend that the conduct shown by your office is tantamount to violation of their right to fair labour practices," reads the letter.

The ex-employees say they are entitled to be paid a lump sum, in lieu of pension equivalent to 8.33 percent of the monthly remuneration rate to their whole remuneration, according to article 6 Part B of the specific contracts, which they individually signed with the UNDP.

They say payments are long overdue and should have been made by 2011.

An e-mail communication from Hanrietta De Beer of Office Human Resource (OHR) at the UNDP headquarters in New York, to former UNDP resident representative, Richard Dictus shows that country's office was cleared to handle the matter.

"On behal f of the Director of OHR, I confirm that in consultation with the Regional Bureau for Africa, exceptional approval is granted for the lump sum arrangement for Service Contracts (SC) that will provide 8.33 per cent of the base monthly remuneration in lieu of pension.

"The exception is also granted retroactively, as an interim measure until resources are put in place for coverage under a proper scheme as the one that WFP has accessed. Please find attached templates for the SC and Certificates of No Contest," reads the communication, dated June 20, 2011.

In a response to an e-mailed questionnaire on the matter yesterday, the UNDP said it has been in touch with its headquarters on the issue, since 2012.

"As contractual matters have legal implications, the process of reaching an agreement was prolonged, and this was a unique case to UNDP. As per UNDP's established procedures, service contract holders are considered as consultants, and as such, they do not participate in the United Nations pension scheme.

"However, with the recent revision of the UNDP service contract guidelines, provisions could be made to encourage service contract holders to participate in national and/or other private pension schemes. At present, we are in the process of finalizing paperwork to have the UNDP's final decision on this issue," reads the response from Kamponda.

UNDP boss tips Mw on TZ wrangle

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United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark has said the UN will only mediate in the Tanzania and Malawi lake dispute once dialogue has been exhausted.

Clark was speaking to journalists at Kamuzu International Airport on Sunday on her departure after a three-day visit to Malawi during which she held talks with President Joyce Banda and civil society organisations, among other things.

Clark confirmed that the president raised the issue of the lake dispute during their talk and the UNDP boss was convinced that Malawi wanted a peaceful end to the dispute.

But Clark said UN would look up to the regional and sub-regional bodies to solve the dispute before it could mediate.

"We encourage the two sides to dialogue. It is the best option and we don't want to see the worst option. Let's see how the international community and regional actors can resolve this," Clark said.
Clark said she would inform the UN Secretary General about recent developments on the matter and Malawi's commitment to dialogue.

Does Helen Clark report the gifts she collects during her official visits as UNDP Administrator?

Helen Clark visits Malawi, October 24-27 2012

UNDP Administrator Helen Clark meets H.E. Joyce Hilda Mtila Banda, President of Malawi.

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UNDP's scandal in Malawi's electoral assistance turns into a criminal investigation

Josh Ashaz 04 October, 2008 01:17:00

 MEC Chairwoman: Anstanzia Msosa

Barely eight months before Malawi holds itsPresidential and Legislative elections, the Malawi Electoral Commission and its chairwoman Anastasia Msosa is being riddled in many controversies ranging from wrongful-self enrichment, electoral pitfalls and rigging tactics. 

The Commission has been faulted by stakeholders for poor organisation during the on-going registration exercise which has been marred with lot of challenges and irregularities raising fears of rigging scheme. 

MEC has since  suspended nine registration centres across the country to rationalise use of equipment such as cameras, transformers and other voter registration technology that were supplied in a procurement which was fraud riddled. 

"The suspension has been necessitated to rationalise the use of equipment. People in these constituencies should not panic as [Mec] will resume the registration exercise in all the affected centres as soon as the additional equipment is acquired," reads the statement issued by MEC chairwoman. 

The affected constituencies—which fall in the third phase of voter registration exercise—are Mzimba Solola, Ntcheu North East, Ntcheu Bwanje North, Balaka North, Mangochi Nkungulu, Mangochi Masongola, Mangochi North East, Thyolo North and Thyolo South West. 

However, the move has been described by others as a calculated tactic to disenfranchise voters where the governing party is not popular. 

“This registration hiccups are raising fears that MEC is disenfranchising voters in areas wheregovernment has no support. This electoral process continues to be fraudulent,” observed Pofela Nyekanyeka who runs Anti Voter Apathy Network (Avan). 

A tender of US$7.95 million was fraudulently awarded to an Australian company Jazzmatrix through the influence of Frank Vassallo, the Chief Elections Consultant at MEC, who is himself an Australian. 

Jazzmatrix is a bogus company which was specifically formed in readiness for this tender and is owned by Vassallo’s own sister and her husband. 

The equipment is very cheap, of very poor quality and not intended for heavy duty use according officials working at MEC.  

“Indeed from day one the equipment has been constantly breaking down because they are not robust enough to withstand the continuous use in harsh conditions. Technical experts have pointed out that the equipment was sourced from China,” a dossier chronicling malpractices at MEC read. 

Vassallo has naturally blamed the breakdown of the equipment to “stupid” Malawian camera operators who cannot handle new technology because of their poor technical background.  

MCE conceded last week that it sent 164 cameras to South Africa for repairs. It also ordered 150 additional new cameras. 

The dossier of MEC ills also reveal that Msosa is now the Executive Chairperson of MEC as she is making day-to-day operational decisions and signs all the cheques related to procurement and financial expenditure which is facilitating Vassalo’s procurement malpractice.  

However, the role of the Chairperson is clearly spelled out both in the Constitution and the Electoral Commission Act as determining policy and budgets together with other Commissioners, which provides the framework for implementation by the Chief Elections Officer, Heads of department and the entire MEC staff. 

The electoral body spokesman Fergus Lipenga gave Nyasa Times e-mail enquiry a muted response. Observers want heads to roll at the Commission and that the chairwoman should either resign or have her contract which expires this month not renewed. 

“MEC chairperson should honourably resign and the entire MEC should be completely reformed or eliminated altogether in favour of a new commission that operates in a transparent manner,” said AVAN director. 

Recently, supervisors and camera operators also petitioned MEC over poor working conditions and threatened to down their tools. 

Nyekanyeka said Malawi should learn lessons from Kenya where rioting killed more than 1,000 people after its disputed presidential elections. 

The Kenyan electoral commission has since been threatened with a travel ban by the US government after they refused to resign as recommended by a government commission.  

“Our Malawi commissioners should learnt a big lesson from their Kenyan counterparts because donors would not be happy to see their money abused by incompetence, corruption, favouritism and other vices,” said AVAN boss. 

UN Development Programme (UNDP) and other donor partners have contributed US$21 million in support of the 2009 Malawi elections process. 

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Appeal will from October 31 start hearing an appeal by opposition UDF and MCP parties against a High Court ruling that President Bingu Mutharika lawfully appointed the commissioners.

UDF and MCP presidential hopefuls, Dr Bakili Muluzi and John Tembo respectively are applicants in the case. 

The two are challenging that High Court Judge Healey Potani made a material error in law by ruling that the President had duly consulted the applicants and all other concerned before appointing the electoral commissioners, according to  court documents filed by the two. 

The case would be heard by three judges which includes Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo. Other judges will be Michael Mtambo and Andrew Nyirenda. 

Mutharika appointed Reverend Dick Mzumara, Oliver Mwenifumbo, Ronald Mkomba, Brown Chimphamba, Jane Nankwenya, Georgina Chikoko and Mary Manyusa-Mangwiza as commissioners last year without consulting the stakeholders. 

Opposition have repeatedly branded Malawi electoral body as “Mutharika Electoral Commission”.

To save their integrity, lawyer James Naphambo and Reverend Silas Ncozana turned down the appointment into the “Mutharika Electoral Commission”.

UNDP manipulates electoral process in Malawi, while funds seats in Headquarter bank accounts from months

Hopes of having an improved turnout of voters during the 2009 general elections are slowly dashing off following the delay by all accredited service providers to access funds from UNDP to conduct civic education campaigns to mobilise people to register en masse.

Malawi Electoral Support Network and Human Rights Consultative Committee have admitted that member organisations have not embarked on the exercise because of lack of funds although the first phase of the registration exercise ended yesterday.

A representative of Malawi Electoral Support Network, expressed concerns over UNDP's micromanaging the situation, and instead of making the donor-funds available to all groups and NGOs, they are selecting a handful of NGOs which are close to UNDP and Government officials".

The two NGO groupings observed that the ideal situation could have been embarking on the civic education prior to the registration exercise to woo more people to register. But UNDP has become a real road-block and is not cooperating at all.

In 2004, President Bingu wa Mutharika was ushered into office by about 37 percent of 3,119,645 people who turned up to vote out of 5 184 086 registered. In the 2000 local government elections, voter apathy hit its record high when only 14.2 percent of the over 5.2 million registered voters cast their ballots.

As of now, the USD1.8 million (about K252 million) pledged by the donors for civic and voter education to about 75 accredited NGOs is still stuck with UNDP who are managers of the basket fund because proposals for funding are with the Malawi Electoral Commission.

Presured by the media, UNDP acknowledged last week the delay saying it was due to long procedures in processing the funds from various donors who contribute to the basket. But in reality, sources inside UNDP Malawi, say that the funds are blocked at UNDP Headquarters since a month, and they were not yet transfered to local UNDP.

MEC projected that the country will have about 7 million eligible voters in 2009 general elections.

"The delay [in conducting civic education] will affect the turnout for registration and as Malawi Electoral Support Network, our immediate focus is on the registration because "no registration no voting," said Mesn chairperson Aloysious Nthenda.

"Realising this challenge of delayed funding, Mesn members are using the little resources and existing structures in disseminating civic education. Some have sponsored a few programmes in the media, However the biggest outlet so far has been the religious and traditional structures such as churches and mosques," he said.

HRCC chairman Undule Mwakasungula said short-cuts should be avoided at all costs because the registration exercise is an integral part of the whole electoral process since it determines the number of people to participate in the voting process that puts a government in place.

"The most important part of the whole electoral process is the registration exercise because if more people don’t register then it means very few will take part in the voting," he said.

"We have the registration process now but you see no NGO has the resources to mobilise the electorate and yet out there people are already saying the NGOs are not doing enough. I must say donors have let us down a lot in this regard.

"But at the same time, we as local NGOs need budget support from our own government to actively take part in the civic and voter education. Why should we wait for donor support only? We needed to have the resources at least six months ago for us to effectively contribute to the process," he said.

The commission’s Public Relations Officer Fegus Lipenga said on Thursday the electoral process does not only rely on NGOs as service providers in the area of civic education but other structures, which he said have also proved to be effective.

"The MEC is happy with the turn out —very impressive figures will be released after the end of the first phase," he said. "From the look of things voter turn out in 2009 elections will be overwhelming. Political parties, the media are doing a good job to sensitise the people on the elections."