Civil society organisations have said that forcing employees of the Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM), a government company run by taxpayers, to sign a declaration of secrecy form is against the Access to Information Act (AIT).
The organisations are reacting to SFFRFM management directive that all staff members sign a Declaration of Secrecy form in which they will be agreeing to observe the strictest secrecy with respect to all transactions and information of the organisation.
This order is contained in a memo, signed by the SFFRFM’s Human Resource Manager, Tiyamike Chiomba, and addressed to all employees.
“You are required to sign the secrecy form, agreeing to observe the strictest secrecy in respect of all transactions and information of the Fund and its clients and all matters relating thereto, and pledge themselves never to reveal or make known to any person or persons or whomsoever both during their period of employment with the Fund and or afterwards, any matter which may become known to them in the discharge of their duties except when required to do so by management, duly authorised officials of the Fund, a court of law, or in the public interest,” reads part of the memo which we have seen.
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The memo further says:
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“It has been noticed that all staff members do not have this declaration form in their personal files, hence my writing to request all members to duly sign the declaration form.
“The oaths documentation that was distributed to all members of staff for everyone to review and sign was meant to be returned to the Human Resource and Administration Manager by Friday, October 13, 2023, for the Commissioner of Oaths to conclude the process.”
The officers have been tasked with signing three copies of the oath.
While confirming the process, SFFRFM Chief Executive Officer, Richard Chikunkhuzeni, said that it was normal for officers to sign the forms.
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“This has been part of the conditions of service ever since. Every member of staff knows that they are obliged to take the oath,” Chikunkhuzeni told Malawi News.
But Executive Director for Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, Michael Kayiyatsa, said it is clear that SFFRM is targeting employees who leak information to the media or to the public.
“Basically, the oath compels all employees not to disclose information of a confidential nature that they have come to know in the exercise of their duties. However, such an oath is contrary to the spirit of access to information because it promotes a culture of secrecy. The culture of secrecy defeats the purpose of the Access to Information Act, whose purpose is to enable the public to access information held by public officials,” Kayiyatsa said
He further said it is surprising that SFFRFM is enforcing this oath now.
“Looking at recent events where SFFRFM has come into the limelight for being involved in shady fertiliser deals, one may conclude that the oath is an attempt to gag its staff, particularly potential whistle blowers,” he said.
On his part, Executive Director of Transparency Initiative Nicholas Mwisama said there is nothing wrong with asking employees to observe confidentiality.
He said this is well provided in an ordinary employment contract but he indicated it is still suspicious.
“In this case, the issue could be, why is it that SFFRFM wants to invoke it now beyond the ordinary way? What is happening in the organisation such that management is afraid of being leaked out?
“By stressing this ordinary requirement in the employer-employee relationship, it raises more questions than answers, especially when it involves a public institution,” Mwisama said.
In May 2022, SFFRFM was embroiled in a fertiliser purchase scandal where, on behalf of the government, it signed a dubious fertiliser contract with two companies, Barkaat Foods Limited and Food Line Wholesales Limited of the United Kingdom.
We established that Malawi’s Embassy in the UK was not engaged to undertake due diligence before the agreement between SFFRFM, representing the Government of Malawi, and the two companies to supply fertiliser.
Barkaat Foods Limited failed to supply about 25,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser for which the government had already committed K750 million.
We further established that the companies involved had no capital and lacked the financial capacity to undertake such a huge procurement assignment.
About K516 million of the K750 million that was paid to a butchery for fertiliser under the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) was finally remitted to SFFRFM account.
