—Contrary to President Peter Mutharika’s rants to the effect that there was nothing amiss in the procurement of maize from Zambia, his own instituted inquiry to probe into the maize saga has revealed that the conduct of his own Agriculture minister George Chaponda in the procurement of the said maize was suspicious and tantamount to fraud.
The report found that Chaponda told Admarc to buy maize from Malawi based Trans-globe Company Ltd which had maize in Chipata.
“It raises suspicion in relation to dealings between the Minister and Transglobe. One can therefore not rule out the possibility of corrupt dealings between the two parties,” the report reads in part before dropping the hammer that graft busting body should investigate Chaponda’s corrupt dealings in this scandal.
“The dealings between the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Dr George Chaponda M.P., in this procurement process should be further investigated by the ACB as the manner in which Transglobe obtained an export permit from the Ministry of Agriculture of Zambia to supply maize to ADMARC raises suspicion.
The report has also revealed that Admarc officials flouted procedures when buying the said maize and as a result of this, speedy action should be taken to discipline them.
“To the extent that procurement procedures were not followed and contracts were fraudulent entered into by ADMARC Management, the Commission recommends that disciplinary proceeding should be instituted against senior management of ADMARC,” recommends the report.
On his part, President Mutharika thanked members of the inquiry for the job well done and promised that he will act on the recommendations.
It is highly unlikely that President Mutharika may act on Chaponda as he is believed to be groomed to take over the presidency in 2019 hence the need the need to protect his reputation.
“No corruption took place and the inquiry”, apparently referring to the Parliamentary inquiry committee ‘was a waste of time and resources,” said Mutharika in defence of Chaponda during the ground breaking ceremony of expansion and rehabilitation of Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe yesterday.