Nankhumwa Speaks Tough On Missing K30 Billion
BY: OUR CORRESPONDENT – Blantyre
Leader of Opposition in Parliament (Lop), Kondwani Nankhumwa, has issued a 14-day ultimatum to president Lazarus Chakwera to address his concerns on a number of issues threatening human life in the country.
Nankhumwa’s ultimatum comes following the recent revelation of a missing K30 Billion meant for the procurement of this year’s Affordable Input Program (AIP) fertilizers.
The LoP says failure to address the concerns he will mobilize the Clergy, University students, Civil Society Organizations, and other concerned Malawians to a wave of nationwide peaceful demonstrations.
Addressing journalists in Blantyre on Thursday Nankhumwa says apart from massive rooting of public funds in government, forex and fuel shortages are also crippling the country’s economy which he said is already on the death bed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“The president must stop his domestic travels, the appetite for travel is draining the public purse and the already scarce fuel that Malawians are grappling to access across the country.
“Chakwera should tell Malawians the status of AIP, forex shortage, and the alleged ADMARC plunder and K30 billion fertilizer the Malawi government has been “duped” and let the Accountant General conduct a forensic audit at ADMARC on the extravagance,” Nankhumwa said.
He has since asked Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to investigate reports that a UK based company duped the Ministry of Agriculture in a fertilizer deal.
Meanwhile, one of the active citizens in the northern region, Joe Thomas Nyirongo has also expressed concerns with the missing of the K30 Billion a situation which he said puts the lives of all subsistence farming families in the country in danger.
“Its just a matter of days now when we are expected to start receiving rains meaning that the farming season is here at last, failure to provide AIP to the subsistence farming households is a huge condemnation of the rural masses who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods,” Nyirongo said.
Other Social media whistle blowers, Onjezani Kenani and Joshua Chisa Mbele wrote on their Facebook pages condemning government for buying fertilizer using a meat selling agency demanding an immediate firing of the Agriculture minister, Lobin Lowe.
“Buying national fertilizers from a butcher, we are living in interesting times, anyway, what I find encouraging is that the President absolutely hates corruption. That is what he says.” Writes Kenani.
Ironically, in a statement issued on Tuesday, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Sandram Maweru has rejected the allegations that government has lost K30 billion through a dubious fertilizer deal.
According to Maweru, the ministry engaged Smallholder Farmers Fertilizer Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRM) to process fertilizer procurement for AIP.
SFFRM entered into contract with Barkaat, a middleman with a production line with Yara Limited which is a well-known fertilizer supplier and the contract was for 25,000 metric tonnes and Barkaat demanded an advance payment of US$727,000 to lock the price.
When Malawi paid the money through Ecobank, Barkaat cancelled the contract saying it had lost the production line with Yara and could not commit to supply the fertilizer.
“Barkaat agreed to transfer the fee back to SFFRM through the same bank. This advance commitment fee repayment of about K750 million is under recall by Ecobank and will be received by the end of October 2022,” said Maweru.
Documents the Malawi Daily Telegraph sourced indicate that the company entrusted by the government for the fertilizer contract was registered as a slaughterhouse, with its business focusing on the wholesale of meat, and dairy products as well as fruits and juices substantiation a clear case of Fraud, Money Laundering, Racketeering and Looting of public money through AIP.
A week ago, the Episcopal Conference of Malawi issued a pastoral letter expressing discontent with the way of how corruption is stifling socioeconomic growth of the country.
