Rotten maize not ours, say NFRA, Admarc
by: Aubrey Mchulu, 5/12/2003, 9:05:38 AM

National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) and Admarc have denied responsibility over thousands of metric tonnes of imported rotten maize piled in an Admarc warehouse at Liwonde, saying the maize belongs to a South African-based supplier.
Admarc general manager Evance Chipala said in an interview on Friday the maize belongs to NFRA because Admarc did not import any maize.
“It is NFRA which imported the maize so check with them,” he said.
But NFRA operations manager Sam Thunde, in a separate interview also on Friday, said the maize belongs to a South African supplier Industrial Commodity Holdings Limited (ICH) who wanted to supply it to NFRA.
“We [NFRA] rejected the maize because it arrived here already rotten after the supplier had problems to take it to Malawi when part of the Nacala railway line was washed away,” said Thunde.
Thunde said NFRA is, therefore, not responsible for both the maize and storage charges at the Admarc warehouse.
Sources who visited Admarc’s Liwonde warehouse last week said almost all the maize in stock is discoloured and smelling badly in the shed.
“In fact, there are red crosses on all the bags which I gathered is a sign that the maize has been condemned for human consumption,” said the source.
The source quoted officials as saying there are two options of either setting all the maize on fire, a decision that would create a problem of pollution, or process it as animal feeds.
Chipala could not be drawn into commenting on how much in storage charges the rotten maize has incurred as he said he was travelling to Lilongwe.
On the other hand, Thunde, who was also not in his office at the time of the interview, said he could not give details of the exact tonnage and referred The Nation to the suppliers in Johannesburg, South Africa.