CSOs blasts govt for politicizing donated fertilizer

Civil Society organizations (CSO) has described the move by government to use the donated fertilizer for the Affordable Input Program (AIP) as worrisome.

Over the weekend Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale confirmed that Malawi will be the first country to receive 20, 000 metric tonnes of Russian fertilizer which the World Food Program (WFP) has sought from the Dutch government.

According to Kawale, the shipment of fertilizer will be in the country after 30 days and government is planning to use the fertilizer in its subsidized fertilizer program, a development which has raised CSOs eyebrows.

According to Richard Chimwendo Banda, chairperson for the AIP implementing committee, the fertilizer will be used in the AIP program to cover the deficit that has been recorded in the budget for the purchase of fertilizer.

Chimwendo Banda said that this is to ensure that all the 2.5 million targeted households have benefited.

However, Center for Social Concern and Center for Development and Economic Development Initiatives described the move as a recipe of corruption.

CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa fears that the fertilizer might not reach the intended destination.

He continued that, in the absence of a clear explanation on the donated fertilizer, it could be stolen from the warehouses or sold to the same Malawians who well-wishers wanted to access it for free.

District disaster management officials are yet to comment on the matter.