Opposition asks government to pay back money to farmers
Leader of opposition in parliament has asked government to immediately pay back the money that it has collected from farmers without giving them fertilizer
Kondwani Nankhumwa has given president Chakwera and his government until Friday next week 27th January this year to return the money to the concerned farmers
Nankhumwa has said will seek guidance from legal and governance institutions such as Malawi Law Society, Malawi Human Rights Commission, Malawi Legal Aid and office of Ombudsman if his demand is not answered
The leader of opposition in parliament has demanded government to stop collecting money from farmers in absence of fertilizer of affordable inputs program AIP
According to Nankhumwa the simple explanation is that there is no fertilizer for farmers to buy adding that where there is little fertilizer available it is only the basal NPK which is available while there is completely no top dressing Urea.
He says less than half of the beneficiaries have benefited from AIP this year therefore the so-called increased number of beneficiaries was just on paper
The leader of opposition in parliament states that the 2022 to 2023 program will have no impact on food security and poverty reduction describing it a total failure
On the minister’s claim that the ministry is using mobile sales vehicles to distribute AIP fertilizer Nankhumwa says the trucks are either not there or too few to make any significant contribution
Furthermore the gadgets used to scan national IDs are very few compared to the demand on the ground citing some districts which have as few as 12 gadgets, described it as a mockery of the whole program.
He says this year’s AIP has faced bigger problems, has collapsed and is irredeemable despite the sentiments made by minister of agriculture Sam Kawale and some of his cabinet colleagues
