Humphreys Mvula and Sherrif Kaisi say aspirants in national elections spend a lot of money during campaign period, knowing they are investing and would get back the money through every means possible.

The analysts commented on a report conducted by University of Michigan and Institute for Policy Interaction that has revealed that each aspiring candidate invest K27 million during an election year, mostly through handouts.

Reacting to the findings, political commentator Humphreys Mvula said politicians use a lot of money during campaign, and that is the major reason they leave their constituencies after winning as they cannot sustain the handouts.

“27 million kwacha is even on the lower side, that’s why they want their money back. And also, that is why we need to expedite electoral reforms so that we can curtail the use of handouts. It is like they buy the parliamentary seat, hence they would want to now get returns from their investment,” said Mvula.

Governance analyst Sherrif Kaisi concurs with Mvula that this is the reason most of them do not deliver because they take it as a personal investment.

“You see, that is why they concentrate on increasing their salaries, but fail to produce results. Many of them resign from their jobs in the name of going into politics to serve people, yet they are actually into business,” commented Kaisi.

Member of Parliament for Blantyre City East John Bande told us that despite the huge amounts used by an aspirant, they should remember to serve their people.

“It is true that aspirants use a lot of money but that does not mean they should forget to serve people. In fact, those involved in corrupt practices of abuse of public resources have no excuse to do that because being a member of parliament means public service,” Bande said.

The country’s 2018 Political Party’s Act has measures that discourages handouts.