Leader of Opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa has asked President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera to halt the sale of 100, 000 metric tons of Maize to Zimbabwe by the Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMAC).
The request comes barely hours after the Parliament Committee on Agriculture met ADMARC officials on the same.
In an open letter seen by this publication Nankhumwa has said going ahead with the deal will one day backfire at some point.
“As Leader of Opposition in Parliament, I feel duty-bound to humbly call upon Your Excellency to exercise your Executive leadership and stop the Board of Directors of Admarc from selling this maize forthwith because doing so would be putting the lives of many Malawians in danger. Mr. President, the 50KG bag of maize is now already selling at K15, 000 and one cannot imagine how much the same bag would cost in the next few months, especially in the case of maize unavailability at Admarc.
“Mr. President, it is a fact that food security in this country is largely determined by the availability and accessibility of maize. The staple crop is consumed by almost all Malawians on a daily basis,” reads in part the letter.
Below is the letter from Nankhumwa to President Chakwera;
LEADER OF OPPOSITION IN PARLIAMENT
Parliament Building
LILONGWE
8th June, 2022
HIS EXCELLENCY DR. LAZARUS CHAKWERA
President of the Republic of Malawi
Kamuzu Palace
LILONGWE
YOUR EXCELLENCY,
INTENDED SALE OF 100, 000 MT OF MAIZE BY ADMARC
The above subject refers. I am writing you this letter to express my deepest annoyance following reports that the public grain marketing company, Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) is proceeding with the sale of 100,000 metric tonnes of maize to Grain Millers of Zimbabwe despite a recent assurance by the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Honourable Sosten Gwengwe, that the maize would not be sold.
Mr. President, you may be well aware that many experts, as well as ordinary Malawians, are against this sale of maize by Admarc precisely because all indications are that many households are likely to face hunger this year due to an anticipated low yield.
This anticipated low yield is as a result of the problematic Agricultural Inputs Programme (AIP), which included the unavailability of farm inputs such as UREA fertilizer on the market. The rainfall was erratic and the recent cyclones ‘Anna’ and ‘Gombe’ compounded the already desperate situation, negatively affecting our agricultural output this season.
Mr. President, it defies logic, therefore, for Admarc to go ahead and sell 100,000 tonnes of maize under a cloud of such downgraded food security expectation.
As Leader of Opposition in Parliament, I feel duty-bound to humbly call upon Your Excellency to exercise your Executive leadership and stop the Board of Directors of Admarc from selling this maize forthwith because doing so would be putting the lives of many Malawians in danger. Mr. President, the 50KG bag of maize is now already selling at K15, 000 and one cannot imagine how much the same bag would cost in the next few months, especially in the case of maize unavailability at Admarc.
Mr. President, it is a fact that food security in this country is largely determined by the availability and accessibility of maize. The staple crop is consumed by almost all Malawians on a daily basis.
As the Head of State and Government, your primary responsibility is to ensure that Malawians are food-secure aside protecting them from other socio-economic challenges.
Let me, therefore, warn Your Excellency that the opposition shall hold you personally responsible for any loss of life to hunger as a result of the sale of this maize. I also wish to state unequivocally that I will have no choice but to seek legal redress on behalf of the people of Malawi should this sale of maize go ahead.
Please accept the assurances, Your Excellency, of my highest consideration,
Honourable Dr. Kondwani Nankhumwa, MP
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN PARLIAMENT
