President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi has dismissed Minister of Agriculture Lobin Lowe and his deputy, Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima over what he termed “incompetence and gross negligence”.
The declaration was made on Tuesday night during a televised speech by President Chakwera.
The Malawian agriculture ministry is charged of bungling the rollout of a scheme that provides farm inputs and discounted fertilizer to rural farmers. Regarding the allegations, Lowe has not responded.
Sam Kawale, a former minister of the lands, was subsequently chosen by the president to take Lowe’s place. The president promised that his cabinet would undergo other changes soon.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau also said it did not thoroughly investigate the process as required by law, according to recent press statements from Public Procurement and Disposal Authority and the body.
However, the President has denied claims made by the parliamentary agricultural committee that the government was conned out of K30 billion.
In the early hours of Tuesday, the former agriculture minister Lowe, who was working on his final job before being fired, saw the AIP fertilizer being unloaded at the Lilongwe warehouse of the Smallholder Farmers Fertilizer Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM).