Four Admarc employess netted for messing up FISP in Mangochi

Mangochi, January 7: Police in Mangochi have arrested four Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) employees for suspecting them to have been siphoning fertilizer from bags under the 2014/15 Farm Input Subsidy Programme.

A source told Malawi News Agency on Monday that the four are believed to have been siphoning the fertilizer from bags at Chowe ADMARC satellite selling depot in the district. The incident happened on January 1 this year. 

The source who asked not be identified told the state news agency that the suspects who are a clerk and guards respectively were selling the stolen fertilizer at a parallel market within the community which raised people’s suspicions.

“People were wondering as to where the other fertilizer being sold in the village was coming from, which led to raising alarm through the village development committee resulting in the arrest of the four,” he said.

Mangochi Police Station Public Relations Officer, Rodrick Maida while confirming the arrests identified the four as Patricia Chikazingwa, 29, a clerk and the three guards as Frazer Kampolo,31, Gertrude Kennedy, 34 and Alex Muotcha, 24.

According to Maida, the syndicate was discovered by the District Manager Austin Gamphani who received information to the effect that the suspects were illegally selling the commodity somewhere within the area.

“Acting on the information, scene was visited whereby it was discovered that seven full 50kgs of NPK fertilizer valued at K118, 650.00 and 13 small bags of UREA fertilizer valued at K213, 743.60 went missing.” Maida said. He said all the fertilizer combined were valued at K332, 393.60.

Meanwhile, Maida said no recovery has since been made but that investigations were still undr way to recover the stolen fertilizer.

Chikazingwa and Kampolo come from Kalonga and Micheni villages respectively in the area of Senior Chief Mponda while Kennedy hails from Mbewa village in the area of T/A Mabuka in Mulanje and Muotcha from Kapolo village in T/A Mlumbe in Zomba