Govt to act on Ombudsman’s AIP report
Ministry of Agriculture says it will act on the Office of the Ombudsman report highlighting acts of malpractices in the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP).
In an interview yesterday, Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said they will await the full report from the Ombudsman to act on it.
“We will read the report and make a decision that is befitting to serve Malawians,” he said.
On the other hand, the ministry’s Principal Secretary Dickxie Kampani said since AIP is taxpayer funded, any abuse should be investigated.
“If there are anomalies requiring further investigations, the relevant authorities are requested to proceed as such. We are not a criminal investigation institution,” he said.
The ministry’s reactions yesterday came after Ombudsman Grace Malera on Tuesday made public findings of an investigation her office carried on the AIP implementation in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 growing seasons.
She said the malpractices heavily detracted from the attainment of the programme’s main goal of food security at national and household level.
Said Malera: “AIP has not had a transformative impact and the costs associated with the programme generally exceed the benefits.
“The findings of [our] investigation have exposed lack of improvement, effectiveness and efficiency and compliance with set policies and procedures in the delivery of the AIP.”
The Ombudsman said AIP is rife with inappropriate targeting of beneficiaries and it lacks alignment of the programme with complementary programmes such as the social cash transfer or the mega farms, among others.
In an interview yesterday, Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA-Malawi) chief executive officer Albert Dambula has commended the Ombudsman for recommending a forensic audit on AIP.
“Ombudsman’s recommendation for the forensic audit engagement, will help to identify and demonstrate the fraud perpetrated by the crime and also prevent and reduce fraud in future.
“Our hope is that the engaged auditor should have the right skills set and competencies to bring value to the client.”
In the 2023/24 fiscal year, government allocated K109.8 billion for implementation of AIP. From that budget, K102 billion was used on fertiliser purchases, K6.5 billion on seed, K585 million on goats and K67 million on operational expenses, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
