Lawmakers grill NFRA's Kalekeni & Kayongo over maize scam

Malawi: Unsatisfied with the “so-called bold truth” from both the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) board chairperson Dennis Kalekeni and chief executive officer Brenda Kayongo, some lawmakers of a joint parliamentary committee on Monday accused the two of being involved in the scam involving the missing of 7,500 bags of maize.

The two appeared before the committee separately to explain the missing 13 trucks.

In his explanation before being sent back, Kalekeni shared with the committee Smolet Kachere's interest in continuing business with the agency as a remedy to have the agency recover its money from him.

He also told the committee that no one has been linked to the agency's maize thievery so far.

The CEO's presentation, which differed slightly from the chairperson's, stated that the truck caught in Kasungu carrying 600 bags could not be included in the truck missing accused of diverting bags of maize.

The committee described the two's explanation as a political statement that only sounded protective and hampered the committee's efforts to trace what happened at NFRA, accusing them of being part of the cartel.

Sameer Suleiman and Kamlepo Kalua claimed the two reports were one and that they were ready to protect the transporter.

Kayongo and Kalekeni both stooped under the weight of the members' probing questions.

However, Kalekeni and his team were sent back due to a lack of substantive details from him.

In August of this year, 14 trucks carrying 7 500 bags of maize weighing 50 kilogrammes (kg) and worth K112.5 million went missing.

The maize was being transported from the Agricultural Development Marketing Corporation (Admarc) Karonga and Rumphi depots in the northern region to the Kanengo Silos in Lilongwe for storage by a local firm, Kachere Agriculture Trading.

In addition to the owner and managing partner of Kachere Agriculture Trading-Kachere, Lucy Singini, the operations director of Kachere Agriculture Trading, and other transporters Dominic Chunga, Fumbani Nyirongo, Moffat Jere, and Joseph Mnshanga are accused of being at the centre of the saga.

The government-funded Admarc K12 billion in 2021/22 National Budget to procure strategic grain reserve maize on behalf of NFRA.

According to Admarc, 65 675 metric tonnes were purchased.

The Department of Disaster Management Affairs took part of the stock directly from Admarc depots, leaving a balance of 37 120 metric tonnes to be transported to Kanengo Silos.