Admarc suspends CEO, director
State produce trader Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) has suspended its chief executive officer (CEO) Foster Mulumbe and a director in an apparent reaction to recommendations of an inquiry into maize import probe.
The suspension of Mulumbe and director of operations Feckson Kantonga yesterday follows recommendations of two commissions of inquiry—one set up by President Peter Mutharika and the other by Parliament—to undertake disciplinary action against some senior managers at Admarc in connection with the Zambia maize procurement deal where procurement procedures were flouted.
In an interview yesterday, Admarc board chairperson James Masumbu confirmed sending Mulumbe and Kantonga on suspension following an extra-ordinary meeting the board held on Sunday.
He said: “The meeting considered recommendations that were made by the commission of inquiry report and after consideration the board concluded and resolved that the two senior managers should proceed on suspension while the board is carrying out their own investigations on the recommendations.”
The board has since set up a special committee chaired by board member Ken Ndanga to examine the commissions’ recommendations and report back.
Further, the board has also appointed Admarc deputy CEO Margaret Roka-Mauwa as acting CEO.
Masumbu said the special committee also includes three other board members and a representative each from the Department of Statutory Corporations, Department of Human Resource Management and Development, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development.
He said the committee has been given 18 days (starting from yesterday) to come up with a report to be discussed during a full board meeting scheduled for April 21.
The President already fired his Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development George Chaponda, who is also vice-president of the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), after the inquiry reports implicated him in the scandal.
Both commission of inquiry and joint parliamentary committee reports faulted Admarc management for disregarding government procurement procedures and entering into the maize procurement contracts illegally.
Specifically, the presidential commission, chaired by retired Chief Justice Anastasia Msosa, found that the Zambian maize suppliers— Zambia Cooperative Federation (ZCF)—only delivered 4 000 metric tonnes of maize out of the full order of 100 000 metric tonnes.
Soon after the scam came to light, Admarc board sent Mulumbe on forced leave to pave the way for investigations, but he was allowed back in office after the expiry of his 20-day leave despite the commission’s recommendations to discipline.
The move forced the country’s civil society organisations (CSOs) to condemn the board and central government, arguing that the recalling smacked of “arrogance”.
But reacting to the suspension yesterday, one of the CSO leaders, Gift Trapence, said that action alone did not mean the end of the matter because Malawians were looking forward to the logical conclusion.
He said: “We are looking forward to ACB [Anti-Corruption Bureau] to fully conclude the case and bring to book all personalities despite their connections or status involved in the scam.”
On his part, co-chairperson of the Joint Parliamentary Commission of inquiry, Joseph Chidanti Malunga, said what Admarc board had done was to their expectation as it did not make sense to maintain the accused individuals while other investigations are continuing.
In February, the ACB conducted a search and seizure exercise on offices and some residences of the embattled senior managers of Admarc as well as Chaponda, Principal Secretary for Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Erica Maganga and Transglobe Produce Export Limited.
Several documents and computers were seized in the process while at Chaponda’s residence in Lilongwe the graft busting body also confiscated cash, both in local and foreign currencies, in millions of kwacha.
