Ministry ‘clings’ to East Bridge deal, SFFRFM sued

Ministry of Agriculture is yet to transfer the controversial East Bridge fertiliser deal to Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM) despite earlier indicating that the agency will manage the transaction.

Meanwhile, another supplier has since taken SFFRFM to court for breach of contract.

Under the deal, East Bridge, a purported Romanian firm, was to supply 300 000 metric tonnes (MT) of fertiliser to SFFRFM and in turn, government will provide farm produce.

But the deal received criticism from members of Parliament (MPs) and other stakeholders for allegedly flouting procurement laws and lacking transparency. The ministry was also accused of interfering with the work of SFFRFM.

But during a meeting with the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture in Lilongwe yesterday, SFFRFM chief executive Richard Chikunkhuzeni said SFFRFM is not handling the East Bridge deal.

“We have not officially been communicated to about the transfer,” he said.

Ministry of Agriculture Principal Secretary (PS) Dickxie Kampani admitted that the deal has not been transferred to SFFRFM, saying the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had asked the ministry to look into some issues in relation to the arrangement.

However, he did not disclose the issues that needed to be looked into.

Said Kampani: “We received some guidance from the Attorney General [AG] to approach the ACB to discuss and see if this arrangement can go on. When we went to discuss with ACB, we were told there are a number of things that we are supposed to look into.”

He said the ministry is not sure of the status of sovereign guarantees, saying there were reports that they would be cancelled, but that has not been communicated to the ministry.

In a related development, Chikunkhuzeni informed the committee that SFFRFM has been sued by Nendongo Commercial Group after government cancelled a contract for the supply of 200 000MT of fertiliser to SFFRFM.

He, however, said SFFRFM lawyers are challenging the lawsuit.

He said: “Nendongo is claiming over K3 billion.”

Committee chairperson Sameer Suleman expressed concern that more companies will drag government to court over “irresponsible fertiliser deals”.