The office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) says two political parties namely; the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) have in the past five years benefited from over K700 million which treasury allocates through parliament, to political parties that get one -tenth of the total parliamentary votes.

Registrar of Political Parties Dr Kizito Tenthani disclosed this today in Lilongwe during a press briefing aimed at appraising the public what his office has done since he stepped up on that role in June last year.

Dr Tenthani said these are the only beneficiaries who qualified for the state funding in compliance with the Political Parties Act (2018).

Dr Tenthani said according to parliament records, from the 2019-2020 to 2023-2024 financial year the Democratic Progressive Party has received over K360 million while the Malawi Congress Party has received not less than K352 million from the treasury through parliament.

However Tenthani says only the Malawi Congress Party has presented its financial report to his office regarding the trickled funding and it was yet to present account of an audited report of the funds.

"We will soon engage the party's present and its secretary general on the same as it important that we appreciate how the money was used as we are also mandated to present our report to the auditor general's office," said Tenthani.

During the meeting it was noted that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had neither presented the financial report not the audited account of the funding, which parties are required by law to manage using separate accounts.

Regarding private funding Dr Tenthani bemoaned that no political party has come forward to disclose their sources of funding, but indicated that his office was aware of various activities that political parties are carrying out using private funding. He then warned that his office will institute investigations into the matter and bring those that are not complying with the law to book.

Commenting on the revelations MCP publicity secretary Dr Jessie Kabwila said they respect the law and Malawian citizens, and promised to comply once asked by the registrar to provide an account of how the party has used state funds in the period under review.

Meanwhile Tenthani has also disclosed that his office has received three new applications from political parties and that his office is scrutinizing them before determining whether or not to register them.

Among others the eligible political parties are expected to use the state funds for promoting the representation of their party in parliament, promoting active participation of individual citizens to political life and covering of the election expenses of a political party.