By Tikondane Vega
Thyolo, May 28, Mana: Barely few days before Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) winds up Kuiphula ndi Lisiti Langa Campaign, MRA’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Steven Kapoloma said the tax collecting body has rewarded 609 buyers with K40, 000 each for being whistle blowers.
The Campaign which was launched on March 8, 2021 with an aim of encouraging people in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu cities to demand Electronic Fiscal Device (EFD) receipt from MRA’s registered sellers is coming to an end on May 31 this mont.
He disclosed to Malawi News Agency (Mana) Thursday that MRA was overwhelmed by buyers’ support in reporting sellers that failed to issue EFD receipts.
Kapoloma said,” The aim of the campaign was to instil the culture of issuing and demanding receipts among buyers in the country,”
The MRA Head of Corporate Affairs added that the campaign yielded good results as the MRA transferred the mandate to demand the EFD receipts to the public.
“MRA is supposed to go shop by shop checking on this, unfortunately we cannot do this every day hence we deliberately launched the campaign to transfer our mandate to the public,” Kapoloma said.
The MRA has so far given out closer to K 26 Million to the 609 whistle blowing Malawians for being active in the campaign which enabled the revenue collectors to mobilize K347 million.
“We have awarded 609 buyers with K40, 000 each translating close to K 26 million. We charge K500, 000 for each case and if we multiply K500, 000 by 609 it is giving us K347 million,” he added.
Kapoloma said as the campaign was going to an end, MRA would review its success and in due course the tax authority would announce whether to extend the campaign to other districts.
Nancy Godfrey, 32 from Thyolo said was now aware of right to demand the receipts and was looking forward to the day shops with EFD machines deliberately deny her receipts.
“I will not hesitate to report such people to MRA,” she said with full knowledge that the money collected by MRA was used for national development projects such as road construction, buying of drugs and other medical equipment in public health facilities.
Kuiphula ndi Lisiti Langa Campaign seeks to encourage consumers to demand fiscal receipts every time they purchase taxable goods or services.
