National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) has terminated a transportation contract it had with Kachere Agriculture Trading after the company lost K123 million worth of maize meant for strategic grain reserves (SGRs).

The amount was later pegged at K112.5 million after some recoveries were made. This was known after the NFRA management and its board appeared before a joint parliamentary committee early November.

Appeared before parliament: Kayongo

Smolet Kachere, whose company was engaged by NFRA, confirmed in an interview yesterday that the agency terminated the contract on November 29 2022, but said he was surprised because he was not contracted.

“We never signed a contact in the first place. I was just engaged to render them a service to transport the maize from Admarc depots to their silos in Kanengo, Lilongwe. We never sat down to sign a contract. If we did not sign a contract, what are they terminating?” he wondered.

Kachere, currently on court bail, is facing a criminal charge over the missing maize. NFRA chief executive officer Brenda Kayongo told the parliamentary inquiry that the transportation contract with Kachere was worth K250 million, and K143 million was already paid.

Meanwhile, NFRA management has suspended its acting operations director Symon Banda, over the same issue of missing maize.

Banda, in an interview on Wednesday, said he received communication about his suspension on November 25 2022, but added that he is not satisfied with the management’s action.

Both NFRA board chairperson Denis Kalekeni and Kayongo, could not respond to questionnaires sent to them last Saturday and Thursday respectively. They could also not pick calls made on different days, including yesterday.

Comptroller of Statutory Corporations Peter Simbani said in a response to a questionnaire on Monday that employment issues around executive management in any parastatal are left in the hands of the organisation’s board of directors.

Ministry of Agriculture Principal Secretary Medrina Mloza Banda, said in a response to a questionnaire on Tuesday that the ministry was not informed about the suspension, clarifying that it could be so because the board makes independent decisions.

On October 23 2022, our sister newspaper Nation on Sunday reported that 14 trucks assigned to deliver maize at NFRA, carrying 410 metric tonnes worth K123 million, did not reach their destination.

Police, after recording statements from NFRA officials, arrested the transporter on October 21 2022.

Delivery of the maize, according to our sources at NFRA, was supposed to begin early September but by September 10 2022, management was informed about the missing 14 trucks, but the agency did not report the matter to police until October 20 2022.

This, and other developments, led Parliament to form the joint committee whose members were drawn from committees on agriculture and budget and finance.

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