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Admarc pleads for relief after assets seizure

In a new twist to the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) saga, Ministry of Agriculture has moved to save the squeezed parastatal by pleading with retrenched staff demanding their dues for a win-win scenario.

The ministry’s intervention comes almost two years after it initially shut down the State produce trader and later retrenched all the 4 000-plus staff on the pretext that it was undergoing restructuring to reinvigorate it.

Some of the former Admarc employees celebrate their court victory

However, things have, to date, not turned out any better as Admarc is today faced with a K25 billion compensation award due to the retrenched staff who have since moved the courts to seize 94 of the corporation’s vehicles and freeze its banks accounts to enforce payment.

In separate interviews on Thursday, Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale, High Court of Malawi and Supreme Court of Appeal acting registrar Innocent Nebi and lawyer representing Admarc ex-employees Shepher Mumba confirmed that discussions have taken place.

Nebi said backed by a court order, the sher if fs seized 94 vehicles from Admarc which were supposed to be auctioned after expiry of 10 days from the date of seizure.

“However, lawyers for the former employees asked the sheriffs to halt the sale as they are discussing the matter with Admarc,” he said.

In a separate interview, Kawale said the Ministry of Agriculture has been engaging the ex-employees, Admarc management, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs and the office of the Attorney General to resolve the issues.

He said he was optimistic that the parastatal will get back to normal operations after the discussions.

Said Kawale: “As we speak, there has been a good understanding between the par ties and the Attorney General is finalising the necessary steps to get the assets back.”

On his part, Mumba said Admarc accounts remain frozen and also confirmed that the parties have been conducting negotiations over the matter.

He said: “We are engaging and we hope that we will be able to agree within days from now on the payment of the judgement debt.”

In September 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture closed Admarc for three months and sent them on paid leave before retrenching all staff with effect from February 1 2023 as part of its restructuring process.

But led by Alex Malikebu, the affected employees success fully challenged their dismissal in the Industrial Relations Court (IRC).

In a November 15 2024 ruling, the IRC ordered Admarc to pay the former employees K25 billion, comprising K7 billion compensation for unfair dismissal and K18 billion for unfair labour practices.

But Admarc asked the court to put aside execution of the earlier order pending appeal of the judgement and the IRC ordered Admarc to immediately pay K12.5 billion as part payment of the initial compensation award.

Admarc also filed a similar application in the High Court of Malawi, but it was dismissed on December 23 2024.

In the High Court application, Admarc lawyers indicated that as at December 2024, the parastatal only had K1.4 billion against debts in excess of K3.6 billion.

Admarc is one of the parastatals that have been st r uggl i ng financially and has over the years failed to serve Malawians as per its mandate as a produce price stabiliser and ready market for farmers.

The State produce trader has also failed to perform its social function as government’s food security apparatus.

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