Cash-gate draws tough measures on subsidy

To curb fraud in this year’s Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp), government and development partners have instituted stringent measures, including installation of a tracking system in vehicles hired to deliver the fertiliser.

The measures also come in the wake of numerous cases of theft and cheating in the distribution of Fisp fertiliser last season, which saw some trucks delivering sand instead of fertiliser and several tonnes of the cheap fertiliser not reaching intended beneficiaries.

Unlike last season when the subsidised fertiliser was being ferried to Admarc depots across the country without police escort — an arrangement faulted to have worsened loss of the farm input —Weekend Nation has learnt that police officers are now escorting all trucks engaged in this year’s fertiliser distribution exercise and that a special unit has been established to track all the trucks 24 hours.

Said Road Transport Operators Association (RTOA) acting executive director Chrissie Flao in an interview on Tuesday: “There is a car tracking system in place and police are escorting every truck. Officials are able to see any truck which branches off on any route or stops at one place for unnecessarily longer period.”

She said transporters have welcomed measures employed in the programme although she added some of them are causing delays in processing transporters’ payment after completing portions of their deliveries.

“We have now seen some improvement, but we were all getting worried and desperate because of delays to get payments for the deliveries done. Transport business is a cash business. We don’t know what will happen next as to whether the improvement will continue.

“We have had fears that our payments would be delayed because of cash-gate and all the things that are running around. Normally, you get paid when you push in your invoice. Maybe government was still organising its house in the wake of cashgate,” said Flao.

She said it is now taking longer for the transporters to get paid after submitting their invoices to government unlike during the last 2012/13 Fisp season.

“This time around, the payments are going through a lot of stages. We believe this is coming in because of cashgate. We are pushing in our invoices through the logistics unit at the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) where they are verifying that the deliveries have been done accordingly.

“After that, the invoices are going to the Ministry of Agriculture where there are three units scrutinising the same invoices separately before payment is made at the Accountant General’s office where we are getting the cheques,” said Flao.

At the Agriculture Ministry, she said the invoices are being scrutinised by the procurement, crop and accounts units. She said transporters started distributing this season’s subsidised fertiliser to various depots early last month.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Dr. James Munthali confirmed that measures have been put in place to monitor movement of trucks carrying fertiliser.

“We are also communicating the expected time of arrival to people at the depots so that they should report if the truck is delaying to arrive,” said Munthali.

He, however, said his office will ensure all transporters get payment for their completed deliveries on time, saying the various stages involved in scrutinising invoices are meant to check fraud and any possible anomalies.

Despite strictness in the transportation of the fertiliser, farmers in some districts including Blantyre have since complained that some Admarc officials are demanding additional money on top of the K500 to buy a 50kg bag of the cheap fertiliser.

In areas such as Phalombe, police have also arrested some individuals for allegedly being found with 2013/14 fertiliser coupons.