CBMP Analytical Report Part 1 - Transparency and Accountability ...

is during the transaction between the district and the division as well as the
distribution to the zones.
b. The Malswitch Card System
On the other hand looking at the Malswitch mode of receiving salaries, the study
found out that the process of Pay-Roll verification is the same as that of the cash
system. On a better note, the Malswitch System saves the district office from
physically delivering the cash to the zones as well as the head teachers actually
collecting salaries from the zones. This saves time and provides some sense of security
to large sums of cash.
Box 2: Points to Note about the Malswitch Process
• MSB was awarded a contract by GOM to provide for electronic payment of
teachers salaries both at rural and urban levels largely on security reasons and to
inculcate a culture of savings
• MALSWITCH was contracted by MSB to provide the software to effect
electronic payment of teacher salaries.
• Currently, 35,000 teachers are registered on MALSWITCH but only 10,000 are
being paid using MALSWICH Cards because, understandably, the
implementation is happening in phases.
• MSB was supposed to buy Auto-teller Machines, but due to cost considerations,
MSB only has Point of Sale Machines (POSM) which basically are used to
authenticate card owners and confirm balances with payment made manually on
the counter.
• One ATM costs around K4million to buy while a POSM costs around K150,000
only.
• There are only 4 ATM by the MSB in the whole north with Mzimba boma only
having a POSM (not Auto teller) despite covering a large area
• MALSWITCH cards do also work on Inde Bank, OIBM, and NEDBANK auto
tellers apart from MSB. If these Banks had auto tellers in areas like Mzimba, the
teachers would have been using the other banks’ machines.
• Main problem that delays teacher salaries from showing on their MALSWITCH
cards is because government is required to give MALSWITCH soft copies of its
list of teachers and the salaries to be paid. Unfortunately, almost always,
government submits the list in hard copy requiring MALSWITCH to re-type.
Often, MALSWICH has to send the list back & request for an electronic copy.
• MSB, it is believed, under contractual terms with GOM, was supposed to roll-out
the programme in areas where MSB facilities exist – a radius of around 15km
around urban areas. However, some of the teachers whose cards have been
activated live so far from the facilities available in urban centre.
Essentially, the problem seems to largely relate to MSB’s strategic planning with regard to
rolling-out of the electronic payment under MALSWITCH – implementation is not taking
much regard to the need for minimum level of auto-teller facilities and distance
considerations – Facts from MALSWITCH Management, 19/01/2010
However, it was found
out that the Malswitch
System deployed herein
is not as high-tech as
expected. These cards
are used by teachers as
mere identification
documents and helping
teachers receive their
pay through the banks.
Thus, after the district
office has deposited the
salaries into the banks,
teachers move from
their respective schools
to the banks in order to
get their pay. Currently,
18