Some Ministry of Agriculture officials are being suspected of deliberately frustrating efforts by Parliament to probe the 2015/16 Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) by withholding some important documents.
Agriculture Committee of Parliament on March 10 2017, wrote the Ministry through Principal Secretary, Erica Maganga, requesting for information on procurement of inputs of the programme for 2016 season but, according to Chairperson of the Committee, Joseph Chidanti-Malunga, some important documents have been withheld.
“ In view of the foregoing, the ministry is kindly requested to submit to the committee the following information: copy of the tender documents, all tender documents , details of bidders , the amount and tonnage assigned to each bidder, and the criteria for choosing successful bidders,” the letter signed by Clerk of Parliament, Fiona Kalemba reads.
Chidanti–Malunga explained that details on which suppliers were responsible for which area have not been provided in the documents submitted to the committee as well as how much of the total tonnage the suppliers have delivered.
“Most suppliers did not have capacity, others never supplied and they only signed addendum in favour of big companies. Our findings so far show that some suppliers were only agents of the big companies in disguise,” he said.
The chairperson also claimed that there was a lot of fraud adding that some coupons were bought off from farmers at as low as K3, 000 but eventually claimed as if the coupons were supplied.
He also expressed worry that competition in terms of offering the farmer the best value for money has been eliminated and that creating a market monopoly, consequently, may lead to corrupt practices.
Both Maganga and Fisp Coordinator Osborne Tsoka were not available for comment as their phones went unanswered.
The committee was set to start summoning 27 private firms by end of last month on the alleged irregularities that marred implementation of 2016 Fisp, but government indicated that it has no funds for the exercise.
There are also fears that among the 27 companies on the list of suppliers are those that are allegedly owned by some officials with connections to the government.
Among the 27 dealers selected are Innovations Marketing and Advertising Agency, Computer Systems Malawi Limited and Network Plant and Vehicle Logistics Limited, RTM Initiative, ETG Inputs Limited, Mulli Brothers Limited, Transglobe Produce Export Limited, Astro Chemicals, MAS International and Gasom Traders.
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