|
Copies of a report put together by the parliamentary agriculture committee to the tune of about K1 million (about $9,000)on the maize scandal partly blamed for the food shortages three years ago are not available as they were allegedly destroyed.
A parliamentarian who is the member of the committee said the copies were destroyed because the report was rendered useless since some individuals implicated in the matter were not given a second hearing as required by parliamentary procedures.
“The copies are not there,” said the parliamentarian. “They got destroyed. That is to say if the committee will present a report to the House as the chair of the committee has been saying, a new report will have to be re-compiled, with all the gaps closed.”
“Actually the compilation and printing of the copies did not cost about K700,000 but about K1 million,” he explained. “Of course someone will argue it was donor money, and not from Malawians tax payers, but the point remains that the money was spent for nothing.”
The parliamentarian was not sure who gave instructions for the expected report to be destroyed.
”What I can tell you is that the report is not there. Some members of the old committee could have their own copies, but those that were printed for the benefit of other members of the House, including interested members of the public, are not there.
“I am not sure who made the decision that they be destroyed, but what the public should know is that the committee will have to source other monies to compile another report to present to the House,” he said.
Secretary to the committee at the time of compiling the report a Mr Mwenyeheli, Clerk of Parliament Roosevelt Gondwe and Speaker of the National Assembly Rodwell Munyenyembe could not be reached for comment.
Committee chair Vitus Dzoole Mwale said he was not aware copies of the report were destroyed but confessed he has never seen them since his committee failed to present the report to the House before Parliament dissolved.
“If it is true that the copies were destroyed then I am getting suspicious,” said Mwale.
He said he has submitted a budget to the Clerk of Parliament to fund a meeting of his committee to discuss the report.
“It is at that point that we will seek explanation if the report is not being made available,” he said.
Last week a source said unless former Finance Minister Friday Jumbe and Finance Ministry official Zinopa Soko are heard for the second time, the agriculture committee will not be allowed to table the maize scam report in the House because the two are named.
The source said lawyers of the two, Kalekeni Kaphale for Jumbe and Modecai Msisha for Soko, demanded that their clients be heard in line with standing orders of the House before the report is tabled.
Earlier reports indicated that the House was sitting on the report on the scam, partly blamed for food shortage that affected the country about three years ago. But the source said two technical issues happened which prevented the tabling of the report.
“First the committee got letters from the lawyers indicating they had heard that the report was being compiled for tabling and demanded that their clients who were named in the report be heard for the second time in line with the standing orders.
“This did not happen because it was around the same time that Parliament was dissolved,” said the source.
During the just ended sitting of the national assembly, Munyenyembe told the House that the maize scam report cannot be tabled because there were “technicalities”. One such technicality was that the report had not been owned by the new committee.
“The report was prepared by the old agriculture committee and it has not been owned by the new committee. Surely new members of the committee need to be familiar with the details of the issue,” said Munyenyembe.
Dzoole Mwale confirmed being shown letters from the lawyers. He also agreed the report has not been owned by the new committee. He was not sure when the committee would meet for him to brief new members since Treasury is not funding committee work.
|
