BRIAN LIGOMEKA, Blantyre | Tuesday
THE Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has launched a probe into Malawi’s finance ministry following indications that the country sold 5000 metric tonnes of donated rice to a private export company.
JICA resident representative in Malawi, Hiroshi Murakami, said he had formally asked Malawi’s government to explain why food earmarked for hunger relief was commercially exported to Zambia.
Murakami said evidence indicated that the finance ministry sold the donated rice to Trans-Globe Produce Exports Limited at normal market prices for export to neighbouring Zambia.
The rice was originally donated to Malawi as food grant to boost regional food security reserves as part of the Japanese Aid Assistance programme.
The rice was, he said, supposed to be sold cheaply through the State-operated Agriculture Development and Marketing Board (ADMARC), which has satellite markets throughout the country’s 27 districts.
“We told the government to sell the rice cheaply to local poverty stricken people, and use the money realised from the sale for social and economic development in Malawi,” said Murakami.
Malawi’s Treasury Secretary, Raspicious Dzanjalimodzi, denied that government irregularly diverted the food aid, or misappropriated any of the money realised from the sale.
“Government sold the rice locally as specified by the donor, and it is not responsible for what the buyer does with the rice. When we sell a commodity, we do not consider what the buyer is going to do with it. [In fact] it is wrong to dictate what the buyer should do with what he has bought from us,” said Dzanjalimodzi.
Murakami stressed that Dzanjalimodzi’s statements were contrary to specifications laid down by JICA, which stipulate that food grants and other donations are supposed to be sold directly to hungry villagers for local consumption.
“Food aid is never intended for commercial export,” he said.
Dzanjalimodzi insisted the idea of selling food aid on the Malawi market was “unworkable as it has many cost implications”. He said Treasury had advertised the rice in local media, but no one tendered to purchase it. – African Eye News Service