Chaponda accused of giving contradictory statements on ‘maizegate’
Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development George Chaponda has been accused by Malawi’s flagship newspaper, The Daily Times of giving contradictory statements to defend himself from any wrongdoing in the misprocurement of maize from Zambia.
Chaponda said his involvement was minimal as the main buyer of the maize was the Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) and not his ministry.
The paper has however put Chaponda on spotlight after he claimed he went to Zambia on two occasion to discuss the maize deal when he led a three man delegation on 8th May, 2016 and then on 11th December, 2016, as a special Envoy of the President Peter Mutharika to meet Zambian leader Edgar Lungu.
But the newspaper i its lead sgtory report titled ‘Chaponda lied onmaize deal’, says the minister might have been to Zambia “more than twice”.
The paper noted that the dates Chaponda mentions “contradicts” with what President Mutharika said on October 21, 2016 at a news conference upon returning to UN summit.
The President is quoted saying on October 21 that Chaponda was in Zambia signing maize purchase deal with President Lungu.
The Daily Times said when it contacted Chaponda to clarify on that, he raged with anger, saying the press statement “simple language” was enough comment on the matter .
Chaponda’s statement comes amid calls from civil society organisation (CSOs) for him and Admarc chief executive officer Foster Mulumbe to resign and pave the way for investigations into the issue.
The minister has flatly refused to resign, denying any wrong doing.
But observers argue that where there is ministerial responsibility, the accountable minister is expected to take the blame and ultimately resign for waste, corruption or any other misbehaviour.
“This means that if waste, corruption, or any other misbehaviour is found to have occurred within a ministry, the minister is responsible even if the minister had no knowledge of the actions. A minister is ultimately responsible for all actions by a ministry because, even without knowledge of an infraction by subordinates, the minister approved the hiring and continued employment of those civil servants ( in this case parastatals). If misdeeds are found to have occurred in a ministry, the minister is expected to resign.
“It is also possible for a minister to face criminal charges for malfeasance under their watch. Plain and simple. Lack of knowledge is not an excuse, plain and simple,” said a governance observer.
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Kunyasa nkhope ndi mtima womwe
Wakwiya ndimfiti.
I smell a rat in the death of that judge…just saying
Kodi APM akumuopa chiyani fisi amati Chapondayu? Uyu tisadandaule naye coz afa ndimaganizo chifukwa cha kuvutika kwa a Malawi. Mulungu wammwambamwamba ndiye akonze zonse. Ngakhale atapha judge akuganiza kuti iye akhala muyaya? Ndani amadziwa kuti Bingu amwalira? Ukakhala pa udindo usamaganize kuti ndiwe sagwirika. La 40 limupeza for sure, afa ndi wachiponyeponye ndipo zonse akudzikundikirazi zidzatsala ngati mmene amnzawo anasiyira matumba a madollar. Let us all pray for God’s intervention as He is a just judge ndipo aweruza mosakondera.
There are a number of indicator statements and moves indicating that Goverment of Malawi is destroying evidence of this maizegate.One of questionable statements is that payment has not been done and move to appoint commission of enquary to give false hope that something is being done yet new documents are being prepared to cover the evidence.This is GOVERNMENT TO GOBERMENT CORRUPTION on the expense of Malawian people.It will be very difficult to come up with evidence
VIN MONGU,
I wished you answer something on what Nasto is saying. Anyone who has some facts to enlighten us on what Nasto is saying should do so with expedience because all those who have commented negatively on this issue will look stupid to the higher level. Are the calculations of Nasto true or not? We have been saying that ADMARC bought the maize at a high price. We have been saying all along that most people who comment on Nyasa are dunderheads who do not have any facts at all. They make too much noise but short of facts. This is the reason why the president can not take aboard their calls of resigning his men. The problem is that the opposition is still licking its wounds which it obtained in the 2014 elections. Indications are there that these wounds will not recover till another bruise in the 2019 elections. Lick on your wounds, the opposition till saliva comes dry in your mouth.
Foolishness at its best. How can you imagine that only opposition will suffer from this stealling. Truth be told there are more people suffering now who celebrated in May 2014 than those who faced defeat. When will you learn to feel the pain of others. Do you really think that those supporters of Wandale in Thyolo are opposition supporters. Do you really think that those people are guilty or crying for help from what they thought is a government by them and for them. Don’t you think they need land to grow their own food so they can get out of begging. Now some cruel people are stealing their hope and you foolishly say it’s opposition crying over lost election. Are you people so cruel that you don’t even care seeing you fellow Lomwes suffering. Now see what fate has for you. Drive anywhere in the North and centre and witness beautiful maize and ask yourself who will need help this year. If you don’t sort out this problem now how will help your brothers later. Please elections are no longer an issue. You brothers are suffering both in the Lomwe belt and in farm all over Malawi. Tumbuka bosses are employing their brothers first before they employ yours if they complain they are told to go and eat the election they won in 2014. Njara nchilombo baba. Don’t joke about it.
Santana, musagomele reasoning ya nesto too much like that because he has deliberately veered away from the argument and the issue in question,thrown in a few figures and confused people line you clearly. The details as stated by him are for the investigators to work on and figures from zambia clearly show that the maize owners were selling the middleman at $215 and he was selling to admarc at $345, those are the relevant figures and not how much the maize was in malawi at the time . The fact of the matter is that admarc and all the people who were involved in this misprocurement decided to use a middle man to buy maize from zambia when they could very easily have dealt directly with the source/owners of the maize and as a result some unnecessary expenses which were incurred could have been avoided which made the maize more expensive that it should have been. Those of us who dont clap hands at zopusa ngati anzathunu we are asking, what stopped admarc from dealing with the owners when the entire malawi gvt as chaponda has claimed, spoke directly with the zambian gvt at the highest level (president Lungu himself) to allow us to buy the maize. Something clearly stinks here and chaponda cannot tell us that in all those trips that he made there was no mention of who they were buying from especially since admarc falls under his ministry and he has made countless statements on the progress of the purchase of that maize. We just arent that stupid, well some of anyway. Let him step aside and let the inquiries clear his name. And if i were advising him, i would say stop talking because your stories keep changing which only means one thing, ukunama.
Chimanga ku Zambia cheap. Buying price ZRK1.00/kg. Selling ZRK 1.50 of course costs borne are:- fumigation, bagging, transport n logistcs adds to…………….
Kanthuako
It is now a matter of time, Chaponda will go.The heat is too much on the President.
A COMMISSION OF INQUIRY SANGANENE ZOONA CHIFUKWA MA JUDGE ATHU
ALI UNDER POLITICAL MINDS PEOPLE. AND HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY
THE BIG FISH HIMSELF CYCLE BY POLITICS.BELIVIE ME THEY WILL
MAKE DELAYING TATICS SO THAT ALL THE INFORMATION WENT MISSING.
THIS IS MALAWI FULL OF EVIL DOERS
Accuse Daily Times
I write to respond to some people who are saying Nyasa yasowa zochita.
the truth of the matter is that Daily Times yasowa zochita . Chaponda alibe mlandu. Mlumbe is the one behind procurement
Alick Zimba, What do you mean by saying Chaponda alibe mlandu? We know Chaponda very well not you from Mzimba. The man has an insatiable appetite for riches. He does not care for the welfare of the suffering Malawians provided he gets what he wants. Again, why should Daily Times be blamed? Had it not been for Daily Times exposing the maizegate issue, would we have known about it? Are you one of the beneficiaries of the maizegate? Journalists share information as did the Zambian journalists sharing it with their Malawian counteparts. How do you expect to be kept informed if newspapers don’t write about what is happening? Njoka saaweta ananu coz nthawi zina imadzakutembenukira ndikukuluma as is the case with Chaponda. He has betrayed the trust of the people who voted for him as well as the trust of the headless chicken president who appointed him to that ministerial position. He is failing to act as he is also corrupt & akuopa kuulidwa.
Ku Malawi andale akati apindula ndiye kuti akama yayimuna.Munthu wakumudzi akulephera kugula soap ochapira ana kuto avale zoyera
Popita kusukulu.
As God did Justice with cashgate, and so will be with Maizegate, no secret under the sun. No secret under the sun.
Kodi ku Malawi kuno kuli mtsogoleri wotsutsa? Ku Zambia koma aliko..
Mtsogoleri wotsutsa zikumukhudza pati ngati anaba nawo? If it is investigating or commenting he only does that at an appropriate stage chifukwa he is just too good to be making unnecessary noise. He is there preparing to take over govt in 2019 and clean up the DPP mess
truth will remain truth
chaponda is a big crook…..he was pulling the strings behind Mulumbe.
Alright. I really think all we need is clarification. I personally doubt if there were any wrong doing in this procurement. When procurring locally, ie from local suppliers, during the same period (May to November 2016), ADMARC was paying MK250 a kilo for this staple grain. Now, considering the much talked about MK26,000,000,000 (of course, at the current exchange rate), the maize must’ve been i mported at MK260 a kilo inclusive of transport (from what we are told)! Now, does this seem unlikely? How likely is it that it could have been bought at a lower price than this? Now, further assumming that the price could have been the MK15,000,000,000, the iported maize should have cost, including transport, MK150 a kilo! Really? Just how likely could this have been? As we go along casting doubt over this alleged mess, we should think along those lines as well. That way, we’ll be a bit more realistic in our arguments!!!
Your viewpoint could be right because all these are viewpoints non-established legally. But the matter is this, why is CEO and minister refusing to resign to clear their names. This alone is a sign that they did a wrong thing and noone can be blamed for thinking the same. two investigations are going on including a third in zambia and we should know the truth if your hypothesis is also true. but chaponda and mulumbe should have resigned first. you are learned and you know that you fail to answer properly because you are answerable to CEO and minister and if not done the answer is always what you have.
Man.mukumunamiza obwera chani. Admarc inagurapo kut chimanga 250 pa kG???chimanga highest price inali 8,000 per 50 kG Ena ankawagura below that….kumanena zinthu zot mukuziziwa,.ngat simukuziwa kumangokhala chete.
The issue here is not comparing buying locally and from Zambia but comparing the cost of buying directly from Zambian government with the cost of using a middle man. The use of middle man shot up the price and it was done corruptly. Nkhani yagona pamenepo
Mwasowa zolemba eti? Shame on you Times newspaper and Nyasatimes. Chaponda is going nowhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have a case, just drag him to court…..period!
Lets wait for the commission of inquiry report
Kodi APM akumuopa chiyani fisi amati Chapondayu? Uyu tisadandaule naye coz afa ndimaganizo. Ukakhala paudindo usamaganize kuti ndiwe sagwirika. Mulungu wammambamwamba ndiye akonze zonse chifukwa cha kuvutika kwa a Malawi. La 40 limupeza for sure, mudzamva!