The Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture on Thursday accused the Ministry of Agriculture of undermining the committee and distracting its oversight function on implementation of the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) which is currently facing logistical challenges.
The committee had called the ministry to a meeting justify delays in AIP implementation and explain disparities in the distribution of fertiliser in the three regions of the country.
However, the ministry’s director of legal Aristotle Mahonga led a delegation from the ministry to explain the AIP challenges, which did not please the committee.
Committee chairperson Sameer Suleman said the issues the committee is looking into are of national concern and at least one Principal Secretary (PS) needed to avail themselves to respond to the issues.
He said: “This is somehow not respecting Parliament, especially the committee. We are very serious at hand, as a committee we are working on these issues, following up on the AIP, the fertiliser deals.
“As a committee we would like to understand these issues clearly and come up with a proper report but we feel like the Ministry is not respecting the committee.”
The committee sent back the delegation which included AIP coordinator Justin Kagona and it directed that the ministry should appear before the committee on Friday with the PS as team leader.
The delegation declined to grant an interview on the matter.
However, in a telephone interview on Thursday, the ministry’s PS for Irrigation Services Geoffrey Mamba said the ministry was not undermining the committee or the issues, adding there were valid reasons for the PS’s failure to attend.
The ministry has, so far, sourced about 16 000 metric tonnes (MT) of fertiliser out of the required 104 000MT, despite engaging 23 suppliers and the suppliers agreeing to be paid in kwacha.
Government allocated K161 billion for AIP implementation targeting 1 054 945 beneficiaries.
