Cops in Chiradzulu implicated in fertilizer subsidy sale mess
Some Farm Input Subsidy Programme beneficiaries in Chiradzulu District have implicated some police officers at Chiradzulu Police Station of corrupt practices during the sale of fertilizer.
At various fertilizer selling depots local beneficiaries accuse some cops who are not detectives of buying a number of bags of fertilizers while disguising themselves in plain clothes.
“They come in plain clothes and buy many bags of maize. What I gathered is that the bags are not theirs. Some business people use them to buy the subsidy fertilizer at the expense of us poor people. I have seen two plain officers at this selling point,” said a villager
at Chiradzulu Boma selling market.
Another villager at the same selling point said the police officers disturbed the sake of fertilizer on December 15 2012 because they delayed people from Mpumila village to buy the commodity in time because the officers were given first choice.
“Many of us came here as early as 6 am to buy in good time. Mpumila village was the second to buy but after the first village, the officers were given space to buy bags of fertilizer delaying us in the process. Who are they buying the fertilizer for? Why do they come in
plain clothes? This is not fair,” fumed one villager who spoke to reporters on a media tour organized by Pan Africa Civic Educators Network (Pacenet).
Chiradzulu police public relations officer Ralph Makondetsa expressed ignorance on the revelations.
But another police officer at the station confided in Nyasa Times that he was aware of some officers, his workmates, who buy fertilizer while in plain clothes for some business people in the district.
The officer said those doing it are not detectives who usually are in plain clothes.
“These are uniformed officers but use plain clothes,” said the officer.
