Cisanet against K95 million Admarc bailout
Civil Society Agriculture Network (Cisanet) is pushing for Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc), independence, claiming that political interference compromises its work.
It has further opposed the call by the Natural Resources and Climate Change Cluster of Parliament to provide K95 billion to the grain marketer for the purchase of maize.
Cisanet National Director Pamela Kuwali said the grain marketer must be free from fraud and corruption if it were to benefit smallholder farmers and the economy at large.
She faulted financial bailouts for exerting fiscal pressure on public resources.
“A recent example is Admarc’s inability to manage maize it purchased in 2020, to the extent that it rotted in Admarc warehouses, leaving it in a worse off position because of the loan that was used to procure the maize.
“In its current state, Cisanet believes that allocating huge amounts of resources to Admarc is risky,” Kuwali added.
Meanwhile, cluster chairperson Werani Chilenga has suggested that Parliament should investigate reports of alleged fraud at Admarc.
He said he would move a motion on the matter before Parliament rises.
Chilenga also faulted the Treasury for recommending that Admarc officials borrow money from local banks at an expensive interest rate of K10 billion and rake in only K1 billion as profit.
“We are saying, let the government, through the Ministry of Finance, allow Admarc to borrow externally,” Chilenga said.
Mathews Kasanda is a journalist who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from University of Malawi (The Polytechnic).
In 2015, Media Institute of Southern Africa awarded him the Best Print Media Education Journalist of the Year accolade.
He joined Times Group Newsroom in September 2019.
