BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-If Malawians feared financial scandals under the Reverend Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse Alliance administration, then they should brace themselves for more as the worst is yet to come.
The county’s electoral management body, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has offered a business contract worthy MK2.2 billion to a non-existent company, we have established.
According to a Notice issued by MEC in Malawi’s two dailies of The Nation and The Daily Times, the business is being given to a ‘United Kingdom’ based company, Sheba Enterprise to supply electoral materials for next year’s General Elections.
According to MEC, the company has been identified through an open tender international competitive bidding process and that if successfully executed, Sheba Enterprise will be paid a total of MK 2, 166, 256,122.32.
MEC has since requested companies that did bid alongside Sheba Enterprise to get any information from them by 22nd of May, 2024.
However, in our top notch investigations conducted by our multi-award winning journalists, we have established that Sheba Enterprise is a ‘long dead’ company.
According to our investigations, Sheba Enterprise Limited was registered in the UK as organization number 08124786 and was incorporated on 29th June, 2012.
We have also established that its registered and operation address was; 49 Foxdown Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN2 6TJ.
Further investigations at the office of the Registrar of Companies in the UK shows that the company was dissolved on 29th September, 2015 and that it no longer exist.
According to the Registrar, the last known Accounts for the Private Limited Company were done on 30th June, 2013.
When our reporter visited the above address of Sheba Enterprise, they found it deserted and that ever since Sheba left, there have been three other tenants that occupied the premises in succession.
When contacted for comment, MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa said he needed more time to check before responding to our questionnaire.
This is not the first time that the Malawi government or indeed an organisation funded from tax payers money has offered a contract to some non-existent business enterprise.
Last time, under the same Pastor Lazarus Chakwera administration, government paid and procured fertilizers from a ‘butchery’ in the same United Kingdom.
These scandals continue to become a common occurrence under the Lazarus Chakwera administration.
But despite evidence showing clearly wrong doing, no one is punished at the end of the day and no money is recovered to be paid back to government.
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) is currently led by Andrew Mpesi, a former personal assistant and cousin to Reverend Chakwera.