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Ombudsman Malera with Agriculture Minister Kawale
The Office of the Ombudsman has presented to the Ministry of Agriculture, preliminary findings of its Systemic Investigation on the Implementation of the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) for the 2022/23 and 2023/2024 growing seasons.
Ombudsman Grace Malera led a team from her Office to interface with Agriculture Minister Sam Kawale, Ministry Officials and others from the Smallholder Fertilizer Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM).
Malera said the engagement was necessary as way of sustaining the debate around the AIP to ensure its efficiency and effectiveness.
She said the findings of the investigation whose report will be made public in due course, should also help the Government through the Ministry of Agriculture to make an informed decision regarding the future of the Programme.
In the report Honorable Malera is calling for Rethinking and Remodeling of the AIP.
She has also directed the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Office of the Attorney General (AG) to institute criminal investigations and disciplinary action against all public officers who were involved in the fraudulent fertilizer deal between the government of Malawi and Bakaart Foods Limited in 2022.
According to the Ombudsman the loss of K750 million was due to unethical conduct by some public officers and should not go unaddressed.
“The Ministry of Agriculture in conjunction with the DPP and the Office of the AG should follow through with disciplinary and criminal investigations, as appropriate, and ensure that attendant disciplinary sanctions as well as criminal prosecution, as the case maybe, ensue in respect of all the public officials or persons involved in relation to the transaction with Barkaat Foods Limited…” the directive in the preliminary report reads in part.
Malera has also called for a forensic audit of the AIP in the next two financial years considering the incidences of fraud, financial mismanagement, unethical conduct and other malpractices that she said continue to characterize the implementation of the programme.
In the preliminary report the Ombudsman also laments politicization of the AIP which she said is on a larger scale defeating the objectives of the AIP of ending hunger and empowering small scale farmers.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Sam Kawale, hailed the recommendations that the Ombudsman makes in the report, saying a majority of them are familiar to the Ministry as they emanate from issues that the Ministry encountered during implementation of the AIP.
In 2022, Malawi lost K750 million in the botched up AIP fertilizer deal which forced President Lazarus Chakwera to sack the then Minister of Agriculture Lobin Lowe and his deputy Madalitso Wirima on October 25.
Source: The Office of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Malawi
