Six hundred bags of fertiliser from this year’s Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) have been stolen at Mua Admarc Depot in Zomba, police have confirmed.
Zomba Police spokesperson Patricia Sipiliano said the bags were discovered missing on November 24, two days after they were delivered at the depot.
Sipiliano said police are suspecting the depot’s clerk Sigele Katawa, 34, who is currently at large.
The whereabouts of the guard on duty on the day of the incident are also not known, according to Sipiliano.
She explained that on the night of November 22, 2013, the suspect, who comes from Mussa Village, Senior Chief Chikowi in the district, received 600 bags of Fisp fertiliser valued at K9 519 000.
“But on November 24, the district senior audit assistant Mr William Matonga visited the Admarc depot, but upon arrival, Katawa was reportedly absent since November 22. The guard at the place also escaped for unexplained reasons.
“It was discovered, after carrying an audit exercise, that 600 bags of fertiliser were not accounted for and that the cash chest had no money or coupons to support the assumption that the commodity had been sold to beneficiaries,” she said.
