Maravi

Chililabombwe MP accuses cops of smuggling mealie-meal to DRC

Chililabombwe MP accuses cops of smuggling mealie-meal to DRC
Written by Mutuna Chanda in Kitwe and Frederick Mwansa in Itezhi-tezhi
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:36:55 AM

NYIOMBO Investments' Copperbelt regional manager Martin Chaikatisha has explained that the company is yet to deliver 81.9 tonnes of D Compound and Urea fertiliser to farmers in Chililabombwe farming block.

And Chililabombwe member of parliament Esther Banda has charged that some police officers are involved in the smuggling of mealie-meal into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Chaikatisha said this in response to complaints from farmers from 35 cooperatives in Chililabombwe that they had not received fertiliser despite having paid for it.

"Chililabombwe, we are remaining with some small balances," Chaikatisha said. "We are remaining with 21.9 tonnes of Urea and 60 tonnes of D Compound."

He said the delay in delivering fertiliser was due to a breakdown of their truck that was due to deliver the commodity last week.

"We had loaded the truck on Friday but apparently, we had a breakdown," he said. "The truck that we had loaded was 30 tonnes of Urea. But if we deliver 30 tonnes today, we'll be remaining with about 21 tonnes and we should deliver the rest soon and we will be done."

He said the total amount of Urea that Nyiombo was contracted to deliver was 369.6 tonnes.

And Good Hope multi-purpose cooperative secretary Kabungo Mwenya complained that his members totalling 25 had paid over K6.2 million as early as November last year to access 13 packs of fertiliser which had not been delivered to date.

He appealed to the government to act quickly to forestall crop failure.

Good Hope is one of the 35 affected cooperative societies in the Chililabombwe farming block.

And Banda wondered how the peasant farmers would cope this year in view of the fact that they were also affected by high prices of mealie-meal.

She described as a shame the 'propaganda' that mealie-meal prices had reduced.

"Mealie-meal prices in most of the shops in Chililabombwe is still over K65,000 and the price reductions that they are talking about are fake," Banda said. "Smuggling of mealie-meal has continued because the police officers are failing to control the situation and in some cases, some police officers are involved in smuggling."

She urged the government to move in quickly and ensure that fertiliser was delivered to the peasant farmers in the block.

Meanwhile 350 bags of the government relief maize meant for distribution in chieftainess Muwezwa's area in Itezhi-tezhi district have been stolen.

Nyambo Ward Community School chairperson Huphrey Kashweka, who is responsible for distribution in the area, confirmed the theft yesterday.

"We received about 1,725 x 50kgs of the government relief maize last December which was suposed to be distributed to the beneficiaries last week. But we had to return all the beneficiaries home after discovering that 350x50 kgs of the government relief maize had been stolen," said Kashweka.

Kashweka said that the 350 bags of maize which had been stolen were part of government relief maize that was being distributed by the Adventist Relief Agency(ADRA) in selected wards in the district.

Labels: CHILILABOMBWE, DRC, ESTHER BANDA, MEALIE-MEAL, POLICE CORRUPTION

posted by MrK @ 9:37 AM