Chakwera trashes insinuations of involvement in K750m AIP fertilizer mis-procurement scandal
President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera has trashed reports that he was involved in the K750 million Affordable Input Program (AIP) mis-procurement scandal.
He said he was not involved in any way in the mis-procurement of the fertilizer which made the government lose K750 million to a UK based firm, saying the Attorney General was following up the issue for the funds to be returned to Malawi.
Speaking during the launch of the 2022/2023 AIP in Dedza on Saturday, President Chakwera said his government will make sure that Malawians are buying the cheap fertilizer and seed easily.
He said the launch of the AIP was a relief to his government.
According to the president, it was not easy to have the program on track as there have been so many challenges.Chakwera said the government has put in place adequate security in this year’s program to keep vendors from benefiting from the cheap fertilizer.
He said Malawi stands to pull itself out of food insecurity in the coming year, if the AIP is implemented free of corruption and fraud.
His comments come from lessons learnt from the previous AIP , where beneficiaries or chiefs would sale the inputs under the program to vendors, defeating the sole purpose of the AIP.Chakwera said that the number of beneficiaries, coupled by good rains, would translate to bumper yields, which can save the country from the hunger before it.
Chairperson for a Ministerial Taskforce on AIP, Richard Chimwendo Banda assured Malawians that this year, government is subsidizing not less than K45,000 per 50 kilogram bag of fertilizer.
Providing a detailed report on the program’s logistics so far, the Minister described such an amount as substantial and generous considering that on the commercial market, a 50 kilogram bag of fertilizer is selling at a record high price range of between K62,000 and K70,000.Chimwendo-Banda, who is also Leader of House in Parliament also recalled that last year, government was subsidizing a 50 kilogram bag of fertilizer with only K18,200.
He said the sharp price increase of fertilizer is on account of recent global dynamics, especially Russia’s invasion on Ukraine.Both Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s largest producers of fertilizer.
According to Chimwendo-Banda, currently, a 50 kilogram bag of fertilizer is selling at K86,000 in Mozambique, K84,000 in Zambia and K89,000 in Tanzania.
He also assured Malawians that the subsidized commodity will be accessed by all the targeted farmers on time.
When you were promising cheap fertilizer to Malawians were you comparing the price of such fertilizer to that of other countries, you promised them considering changes of other factors as well so just do the needful