Less than a week after President Chakwera sacked Lobin Lowe as Minister of Agriculture, the Government has terminated the contract of Permanent Secretary Sandram Maweru.
Lowe was sacked by Chakwera due to irregular fertiliser buying for the Affordable Input Program for 2022–2023,
Senior government officials, including Maweru and the former Cabinet minister, spent K150 million traveling to the UK to negotiate a deal with butchers to supply fertiliser to the Malawian government.
According to President Chakwera’s National Address from last Tuesday, the agreement cost the Malawian government around K740 million.
Maweru’s contract was terminated, according to Minister of Information and Digitalisation Gospel Kazako, who was unable to give any facts.
However, additional people’s heads are anticipated to roll in relation to the “agreement,” our correspondents have been credibly informed.
Sam Dalitso Kawale was chosen by President Chakwera to lead the Ministry of Agriculture and to supervise the acquisition of inputs after Lowe was fired.
In a related development, Marjorie Maluwa Phiri, the board chairperson of the Smallholder Farmers Fertilizer Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM), informed a joint parliamentary committee that German police had detained a man and seized his property as a result of his involvement in the K750 million AIP fertiliser procurement scandal.
Phiri has been very secretive about the name of the suspect, though. Phiri further revealed that the Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda, who is in charge of the money’s recovery initiative, is now in Germany gathering information.
As of October 24, SFFRFM had, in Phiri’s estimation, recovered around $182, 000 (K188 million) from the sum that was credited to the fund’s account.
President Chakwera guaranteed Malawians that the money will be recovered during his National Address.