Admarc refuses to bring down maize prices, might fail to pay PTA bank loan
State produce marketor Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) CEO Foster Mulumbe has ruled out bringing down the price of maize pegged at K12500 per bag unless parliament finds donors who can subsidize the price of the stapple food.
Mulumbe said this on Wednesday when he appeared before a parliamentary inquiry on maizegate.
“I am asking the honourable members to get us people who can subsdize the prices,” he said.
He said Admarc spent close to K30 billion buying the 106 million metric tonnes locally and has a deficit of K6 billion.
Mulumbe defended the current maize prices which he said were pegged just to recover the money which Admarc borrowed to buy the maize.
However Mulumbe said Admarc might not be able to repay the PTA loan because people are not buying the maize which they say is very expensive.
He said Admarc has sold just 6 000 tonnes out of the 106 million tonnes.
Mulumbe seemed clueless as to where the state grain marketer will get the money from to repay the loan.
“The plan was that we buy the maize and within three months we repay the loan,” he said.
Mulumbe and Agriculture minister George Chaponda are facing investigations over the procurement of the maize from Zambia. Mulumbe is on forced leave whilst Chaponda is on High Court ordered suspension.
This is because you agreed as buying agents to Tapiwa Mutharika by buying maize for her at your depots at K8,500/bag, and then you bought that maize from her at K11,000/bag, hence you want to sell the same maize to the public at K12,500.
AAAh! Which PTA Bank Loan? Did I not hear that they have not paid any money for the maize from Zambia. And some one asked Mulumbe on the same and he said they will only assess how much they will pay for the 4,412 metric tones they received from Kaloswe of Zambia. And again Mulumbe said that we have 105,000 metric tones of maize which he said was enough for Malawi. Why not just give back to PTA Bank the unused balance? Is ADMARC still going to buy maize from Zambia and yet we have enough within? Koma zinazi ,… Read more »
Who made that silly plan?
Plans made by fools and thieves without a human heart will always back-fire. Foolish DPP thugs, mufa imfa yowawa mwatinunkhitsira dziko ife tukumva kuning’ina
Forget about people buying maize from admarc. Very soon tiyamba kukolola. Mugula nokha chimenecho