Malawi Police in Machinga district have arrested five people for allegedly stealing 41 bags of subsidized fertilizers at Mmanga ADMARC depot valued at five hundred thousand kwacha. Machinga police spokesperson Amos Martin Tione says the five are Ellia Banda, Rodric Sulumba, Aaron Ganeti, Damiano Machika, and Mavuto Fredson. Tione says Eliya Banda was working as […]
Farmers Union of Malawi, a grouping of over 78 associations of farmers is asking government authorities to ensure that all culprits involved in Mangochi subsidised fertilizers scandal should been prosecuted. Police in Malawi’s southern district of Mangochi on Friday evening impounded a truck registration number KA 5310 belonging to Simama Transport after 600 hundred bags […]
Preliminary investigations into a fertilizer subsidy scandal in which police have impounded a vehicle carrying 600 bags filled with sand are implicating Optichem, Simama transport and Smallholder Farmers Fertilizer Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM) . Police in Malawi’s southern district of Mangochi on Friday evening impounded a truck registration number KA 5310 belonging to Simama Transport […]
Police in Malawi’s southern district of Mangochi have impounded a truck registration number KA 53 10 belonging to Simama Transport after 600 hundred bags of subsidised fertilizers it carried found filled with sand. Officer in charge for Mangochi police station senior assistant commissioner Ephraim Chipojola says the police have so far arrested four people including […]
Chief Secretary to the Government Bright Msaka is among the list of people who have been given contracts to supply and transport fertiliser in the multi billion kwacha Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp). The list which Nyasa Times has seen is also dominated by sympathisers of Peoples Party (PP) and Asian businessmen who are known […]
Malawi President Joyce Banda on Wednesday pledged to make a personal donation of fertilizers to the chiefs in the country. She made the pledge at the New State House in the capital Lilongwe where she was hosting 66 chiefs from the country’s central region. The President said she is pleased with what she said rightful […]
Ireland has given Malawi government 350 thousand Euros (about 135 million Malawi kwacha) for financing of the Anti-corruption bureau to implement the National Anti Corruption Strategy as well as for farm input subsidy programme . Speaking at the signing ceremony the Irish ambassador Liz Higgins said 135 million has been set aside for the monitoring of the […]
Malawi Watch, one of the country’s civil society organizations, has called for an immediate investigation into the awarding of fertilizer suppliers in this year’s fertilizer subsidy programme. Malawi Watch Executive Director, Billy Banda, speaking in Capital Radio’s Sunday Round-Table discussion programme said the way government has handled the awarding of contracts and registration of beneficiaries […]
Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security authorities are assuring Malawians that they will vigilantly be monitoring the 2012/2013 Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) activities in a bid root out all forms of malpractices that characterize the exercise. The move also seeks ensure the smooth running of the program in order to benefit the intended beneficiaries. […]
Malawi government has awarded fertiliser subsidy supplying contracts mainly to foreign companies as opposed to locals and also preferred those who offered exorbitant bids. Many Malawian owned companies have been left out. The indigenous companies employ millions of Malawians who are now facing a gloomy future. According to a list of companies and their bids, foreign […]
Malawi government has announced successful bidders in the fertiliser subsidy programme which has seen business conglomerates, the Mulli Brothers Holdings Limited , which was believed to had close links with the late president Bingu wa Mutharika , not being given the contract. The published list of Irrigation, Rural Livelihoods and Agricultural Development (IRAD) fertiliser project shows only two companies will carry […]
Implementation of this year’s Farm Input Fertilizer Subsidy (FIS) program could be affected following government’s decision to terminate fertilizer and seed supplying contracts of the companies who were ‘suspiciously’ awarded by the previous regime. Reports from Capital Hill indicates that some cabinet ministers are not seeing each other eye to eye following squabbles that have […]
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president and Leader of Opposition in Parliament, John Tembo, has resounded his call for a universal fertilizer subsidy, saying it could be the possible solution for the country‘s agriculture production. Speaking at a public meeting he held in Dedza North West constituency, the veteran politician said it does not make sense “for […]
Former Secretary to Treasury, Dr Milton Kutengule, has reacted to a leaked report by Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) which implicated him in a 2005 fertiliser subsidy deal the bureau claims wasted $6.9 million (about K2 billion at present exchange rates). Kutengule left the ministry of finance in 2008 in connection with a mysterious K20 million […]
Former Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe has been implicated in the subsidy fertiliser scam by insisting that government buys the fertiliser from a Saudi Arabia company which had no capacity to deliver the required tonnage. An Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) Investigation Report Ref. ACB/CR/BT/155/06 which Nyasa Times has a copy reveals that Gondwe blasted official […]
The office of the Director of Public Procurement has ordered tycoon Leston Mulli of Mulli Brothers (MBL Holdings Limited) to reimburse MK138,600,000.00 to Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for the of 140 metric tonnes of Maize Storage Pesticides which was awarded to his company. According to a letter sent to Mulli by Director of Public Procurement, Dye Mawindo, copied […]
News that government has cancelled the 2012/13 fertilizer procurement contracts for possible review is not unexpected. The review comes at a time when high level sources have revealed of serious anomalies and high level corruption in the way the contracts were awarded. It has been alleged that Erica Maganga was removed as Secretary for Agriculture […]
Malawi’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, has announced cancellation of the Tender of the Procurement of Subsidised Fertilizer for 2112 – 2013 Growing season – IBF Number: 019/FERT/IPC/12/001. The ministry said the tender will be re-advertised “after reviewing measures for enhancing the implementation of the programme.” According to Finance Minister Dr. Ken Lipenga, the major allocation within […]