Fire Kawale, LMC urged

Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale has come under fire for missing the deadline that President Lazarus Chakwera set for him to deliver the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP).

Various players including chairperson of the Agriculture Committee of Parliament and governance observers, have since urged the President to fire Kawale and take direct oversight of the  ministry.

This comes after Kawale confessed failing to meet the 40-day target as just 46 percent of beneficiaries in the country have redeemed their inputs.

During the launch of this year’s AIP in Kasungu on October 20, the President gave the Ministry of Agriculture 40 days to fully implement the programme, which since its inception in 2020 has been rocked with implementation challenges.

But briefing the media in Lilongwe on Wednesday, Kawale attributed the failure to meet the deadline to foreign exchange scarcity and the 44 percent kwacha devaluation effected on November 9 this year.

Instead, he expressed hope that he would reach all 1.5 million beneficiaries before Christmas Day.

However, in a statement issued yesterday, governance and human rights advocate Undule Mwakasungula observed that the failure to meet the distribution target was a notable setback for the entire programme.

He said Chakwera’s directive to implement the AIP within the timeframe was aimed at ensuring timely access to essential agricultural inputs, which is a crucial step in enhancing food security and alleviating poverty.

Said Mwakasungula: “While Minister Kawale attributes this delay to foreign exchange scarcity and the recent devaluation of the Malawi kwacha, it is imperative to note that these factors were not unforeseen.

“Given the importance of the AIP as a signature programme and the upcoming elections in two years, it is crucial for the President now to take decisive action. One option to consider is relieving the minister of the immense responsibility and taking direct oversight of the ministry himself.”

He said the move would demonstrate the President’s commitment to ensuring the success of the AIP and bolstering his reputation ahead of the 2025 elections.

“Moreover, this also presents an opportune moment for a Cabinet reshuffle, as suggested by the Public Affairs Committee [PAC] a few days ago. The President needs a Cabinet that is not only professional, but also dedicated to the interests of Malawians,” he said.

Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture chairperson Sameer Suleman while also calling for Kawale’s head, described this year’s programme as the worst.

“In terms of beneficiaries and availability of commodities there is nothing they have done. They have plainly failed. We are now expecting the President to take a decisive action just as he did with Kawale’s predecessor Lobin Lowe and his deputy Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima.

“Kawale had a better chance to prove himself that he was capable because Parliament approved the budget in April and it does not make sense that eight months later he should be giving excuses. Kawale and his three principal secretaries have failed and they must all go,” said Suleman.

He reiterated the need to discontinue the programme and find a better replacement because “it’s breeding corruption and encouraging theft through dubious contracts”.

On his part, political analyst George Phiri blamed the President for seemingly not understanding the role of the Ministry of Agriculture.

He said former president Hastings Kamuzu Banda never gave the ministry to any person throughout his tenure because he knew its significance in the country’s economy.

“Chakwera should have been in control of this ministry and I hope he will now take action because Kawale and the ministry are becoming irrelevant to the country’s situation. Actually, the country’s power to deal with hunger is becoming even more challenging now than ever,” said Phiri.

On his part, Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (Cdedi) executive director Sylvester Namiwa described Kawale as a “threat to the survival of majority Malawians and to all attempts to recover the country’s economy”.

He said if it were in other countries, the President would have by now fired Kawale.

“He has failed every deadline his boss has spelt out publicly ever since his appointment. He is the worst ever minister,” said Namiwa.

Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency executive director Willy Kambwandira said Malawians were within their constitutional rights to demand accountability from the ministry, including firing Kawale and “the appointing authority must not pay a deaf ear to these calls”.

Kambwandira said the President needs to act decisively and the minister must account for his performance, as it is obvious that his performance had not lived to the expectations of Malawians.

“It is unfortunate that there are no performance indicators to help assess performance of public officers including Cabinet ministers as a result Malawians are left to create their own performance measures for public officers.

“It is time government developed performance indicators for senior government officers including Cabinet ministers, and share them with Malawians for their own assessment,” he said.

When contacted yesterday, Kawale declined to comment on the issue.

In February this year, Chakwera promised a timely AIP and directed that procurement processes should be done by end June 2023 so that people start accessing inputs early July 2023.

The AIP has faced implementation challenges over the years, with the Donor Committee on Agriculture and Food Security in Malawi urging the government to rethink the allocations to the AIP which consumes over half of the funding to the sector.