Public Affairs Committee (PAC) has expressed disappointment over the government’s reluctance to fund a forensic audit on the theft of two Biometric Registration Kits (BRKs).

Electoral stakeholders asked government to fund the forensic audit after the missing of electoral equipment in Mwanza and Mzuzu during the electoral process.

PAC Publicity Secretary, Fr Peter Mulomole, said the government must release the money because the issue at hand is of people’s interest.

Fr Mulomole said: “Government is a custodian of Malawians’ money so we are saying Malawians are going to use their own money to pay for the exercise because the electoral process is in the interest of the nation so it’s unfortunate for the government to hold the money because it means the authorities in the government have now become bosses and not servants of people.”

He further urged Malawians to speak out and pressurize the government to release the money.

But government through its spokesperson, Henry Mussa, said stake holders must look for their own resources to fund the forensic audit since the government has its own budget lines.

“They (PAC) don’t understand that government has its budget lines approved by parliament and any expenditures outside the budget line has to be approved by the same parliament, so if they feel the issue is urgent and more important they can also use the resources which are allocated to them,” said Mussa.

Recently, opposition political parties and other electoral stakeholders addressed a press conference in Blantyre where among other issues, they demanded Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah and other senior officials to step aside to pave way for an independent forensic audit on the issue.