The Public Accounts Committee (Pac) of Parliament will from tomorrow start investigating the fertiliser barter deal between the Malawi Government and Romanian firm East Bridge, The Daily Times has established.
According to communication from the Parliament Secretariat, which we have seen, the probe would run up to next week Thursday and would see Pac summoning stakeholders.
Tuesday, the committee has summoned Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda to appear before it to answer questions regarding the deal.
Later in the afternoon, Pac will meet the controlling officer for the Government Contracting Unit.
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On Wednesday morning, the committee has summoned the controlling officer for the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority while, in the afternoon, Pac is expected to meet the controlling officer for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs.
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On Thursday morning, Pac has a date with the controlling officer for the Ministry of Agriculture while in the afternoon the committee will meet officials from the Malawi Law Society.
The committee is expected to discuss findings of the inquiry on Friday and Monday, before adopting a report on the same next Thursday.
Pac Chairperson Mark Botomani was not immediately available to shed more light on the inquiry but accountability commentators have since welcomed the inquiry.
Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency Executive Director Willy Kambwandira said his organisation demands that all individuals involved in the transaction should be sanctioned using applicable laws.
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“Obviously, this is a welcome development and it was long overdue.
“However, it is our hope that this is not one of those ceremonial parliamentary inquiries without matching action.
“Malawians would like to know what happened and who was involved,” Kambwandira said.
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation Executive Director Michael Kaiyatsa said it is important that the committee should get to the bottom of the matter.
“However, the committee should ensure that the process is done in an objective, transparent and impartial manner and that everyone connected to the issue should be summoned and interviewed. It’s also important that they avoid politicising the process,” Kaiyatsa said.
On his part, Human Rights Defenders Coalition Chairperson Gift Trapence commended Pac for making the move.
“This process will help them hold the government [Executive] accountable. This is parliamentary oversight that Malawians want to see from members of Parliament,” Trapence said.
In June this year, details emerged that the government had signed a $124.5 million (K125 billion) agreement with the Romanian company before its consultations with the Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) were finalised.
It transpired that, in April this year, the Ministry of Agriculture wrote the ACB, asking it to conduct due diligence on the company but, before consultations between the ministry and the ACB were finalised, the government proceeded to sign the contract.
As part of the deal, Malawi is expected to pay back, in the form of produce, 250,000 metric tonnes (mt) of soya beans at $528 per mt— which translates into $132,000,000 (K132 billion) — and 250,000mt of groundnuts at $725 per mt costing $181,250,000 (about K182 billion).
Last month, Agriculture Minister Sam Kawale announced in Parliament that the fertiliser deal had been suspended until further notice.
Kawale further announced that the Ministry of Agriculture was transferring the deal to Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM) since it is commercial in nature and the ministry does not deal in commercial issues.
“After facilitating the transaction, my ministry is now in the process of transferring the deal to SFFRFM because this is purely a commercial transaction. So, until the transferring process is completed, the deal remains suspended.
“After everything is done, SFFRFM will facilitate the receiving and distribution of the fertiliser across the country because this is a purely commercial transaction; this is not under AIP [Affordable Inputs Programme],” Kawale said
