Three years after the first ever publicly known subsidised fertiliser scandal, Malawians are still in the dark on details regarding the 2022 botched Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) where K563 million was recovered from Germany in August 2023.
Parliament which instituted an inquiry, the Attorney General (AG), who promised to go after those who may have been involved, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) which said was investigating the matter, and other law enforcement agencies, have all chosen silence on the matter.
In March last year, Ombudsman Grace Malera also issued an investigative report, directing that the Ministry of Agriculture in conjunction with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the AG should follow through with disciplinary and criminal investigations.
But when contacted yesterday, DPP Masauko Chamkakala maintained that his office referred the investigations to the Malawi Police Service (MPS).
He also gave the same response last year after the Ombudsman report.
Said Chamkakala: “The office of the DPP referred the investigations to the Malawi Police Service for investigations. The office of the DPP neither has the legal mandate nor the human capacity to undertake criminal investigations. The response has not changed. Follow up with MPS.”
But National Police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said he needed to check if the police had received that instruction, and was yet to get back by press time.
When the matter came to light in 2022, the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture convened for several days interviewing several people, but no report has been presented to date.
When contacted yesterday, Malawi Parliament spokesperson Ian Mwenye said he needed to consult on the status of the matter.
After the money was recovered following a lengthy legal process in Germany, the AG Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda issued a statement that his office will go after all those involved in the botched deal.
He also indicated at the time that the Camden County New Jersey Prosecutors and the police in the United States of America had arrested and charged one of the principal suspects.
But for several months, including a reminder yesterday, there has been no response from the AG on the matter.
ACB publicity secretary Egrita Ndala, who earlier had indicated that the bureau instituted a probe into the botched deal in 2022, said yesterday that the response was also not ready.
Ndala responded through email: “We will revert when a response is ready.”
Reacting to the development, Human Rights Defenders Coalition chairperson Gift Trapence said Parliament’s failure to produce the report was a betrayal to Malawians.
“If they have failed to investigate the matter let them tell Malawians that they have failed their delegated duty to represent Malawians,” he fumed.
The botched deal irked President Lazarus Chakwera, who on October 25 2022, sacked then minister of Agriculture Lobin Lowe and his deputy Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima for purportedly failing to provide leadership.
