Former Board Chairperson of the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera), Dingiswayo Jere, has charged that contrary to what has been reported before, the parastatal’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Raphael Kamoto, should shoulder the blame for directing that Mera should buy 10,000 metric tonnes of maize for Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc).
Mera purchased the staple grain from Auction Holdings Commodity Exchange Limited (AHCX) using K2.9 billion from the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) and the decision resulted into the dismissal of Kamoto and the termination of Finance Director Elias Hausi’s contract.
Kamoto has since obtained an injunction against his dismissal.
There have been reports in the media that the then Mera’s board sanctioned the purchase of the maize and that Kamoto and Hausi should, therefore, not be accused of having made the decision irregularly.
But in a strong-worded statement released yesterday, Jere says the regulator’s board approved management’s request on condition that all necessary procedures, including that guidance from Treasury should be sought first, were followed.
According to Jere, despite the clear direction of the Mera Board of Directors, Kamoto proceeded to instruct AHCX to start transporting the maize as soon as possible and indicated that Mera would be transferring the money for the transaction in less than three weeks.
Jere further argues that Kamoto sough Treasury’s advice on February 25 2016 after having already instructed AHCX to start transferring the maize the previous day.
“On 1st March, 2016, Mera Management proceeded to effect a bank transfer in the sum of K2,963,575,000 in favour of (AHCX) in respect of the purchase of maize. It is, therefore, clear that Mera Management proceeded to pay for the purchase of maize even before the Ministry of Finance had given its guidance on the matter,” says Jere in the statement.
He also claims that the regulator’s board only came to know about the payment through other quarters which he has not named.
Jere further accuses Mera’s management of failing to comply with the Public Procurement Act in the purchase of the maize “as the use of single source, in this case [AHCX], could only proceed after the granting of a “No Objection” by the Office of the Director of Public Procurement (ODPP).
“Upon further inquiry of the matter by the Mera Board of Directors, it later transpired that Mera would incur a non-refundable loss of K1.8 billion in the transaction, a fact which was never disclosed by management to the Mera Board when requesting the board’s approval to purchase maize from AHCX,” Jere, who resigned from Mera’s board on March 31 last year, states.
When contacted for his reaction to Jere’s statement yesterday, Kamoto simply said he had no comment. He gave the same response on reports that he is being blocked from accessing his office not because of the dismissal but because he is on suspension.
Apparently, the injunction that the High Court sitting in Lilongwe granted him only stopped the regulator from implementing its decision to dismiss him and not the decision to suspend him.
An earlier statement from Mera current Board Chairperson, Joseph Bvumbwe, challenged Mera’s management to do everything possible to recover from Admarc all the money spent on the purchase of maize so that it could be remitted to the PSF.
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