K800 Million Mistakenly sent to NRB in 2020, Social Media Reacts

It has emerged that over the K800 million was “mistakenly” sent to the National Registration Bureau (NRB) in 2020 by the Treasury.

According to the local media, the money was sent in April 2020 “by mistake”.

The reported disbursement which happened during the Peter Mutharika administration occurred weeks before the June 23 fresh presidential elections in which Mutharika lost the presidency.

Malawians on social media suspect that the transaction was part of a corruption scheme considering the multi-day processes required before funds are sent from the Treasury to other departments.

“I am a financial person. Do not be fooled. A payment passes through a lot of screenings and checkings. There’s no way it can be paid by mistake. What mistake? An initiator was supposed to have backing documents and some people approved along the way. This is not possible. If we follow what this money was used for, we can be very disappointed,” said one person on social media.

Facebook user (name withheld) chipped in, saying: “Impossible, with the bureaucracy of the civil service and the sophisticated processes of financial transactions, surely it wasn’t a mistake, they knew what they were doing unless they tell the country the payment was via Airtel Money or Mpamba!”

Social commentator Onjezani Kenani said: “How does the whole Treasury pay K800 million by mistake?”

Questions have also been directed at NRB over its silence on the matter. Malawians say the bureau should refund if it used the money.

“And unfortunately, the NRB just stayed silently yet it knew that it had been paid the money by mistake. The bureau must be questioned and pay back the money,” said one person.

Last year, an audit report at the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) also raised suspicions over the transfer of K4.3 billion from RBM to FDH Bank hours before the results of the 2020 Fresh Presidential Elections were announced.