Maravi

(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Shameless corruption at Guruve GMB

Shameless corruption at Guruve GMB
Saturday, 07 January 2012 21:33

If President Mugabe had been at Guruve Grain Marketing Board depot last week, he would have shaken his head in total disbelief.

His Presidential Wellwishers’ Input Scheme, with good intentions of benefiting especially the most underprivileged farmers, was being looted left, right and centre by party bigwigs, influential businessmen, kombi drivers and conductors, with the intended beneficiaries ending up with nothing.

It was corruption in broad daylight, shameless corruption, which puts the name of the party and Government to shame, corruption which puts the name of the President in bad light. One farmer summed it all up on Wednesday afternoon:

“President Mugabe has been a wonderful President since independence and is a wonderful person, with wonderful deeds, but his messengers are the ones that mess it up for him all the time.”

As part of the Presidential Inputs Scheme, GMB depots around the country received fertilisers and seed for onward distribution to farmers. Many farmers saw this as a welcome move, considering that agriculture has been suffering from insufficient funding from banks and central government, at the behest of Minister Tendai Biti. So, it was with bated breath that most farmers waited for the distribution of the inputs.

According to a soldier who farms in the Bickdale area, speaking in confidence, the looting started on Sunday and continued on Monday. This was done because it was a holiday and most people were unaware that the depot was open for such an exercise.

The soldier got 200 bags of compound D, but he is not the only one. Some farmers and businessmen got as much as 300 bags each. An MP from Mazowe district, name supplied, got his allocation from Guruve instead of Mvurwi or Centenary GMB (that is if he did not get anything from there). By Wednesday, when the depot was opened to the public, there was so much chaos that the depot manager, Mr Obert Zhoya, and Guruve’s outgoing District Administrator, one Rupiya, were almost man-handled, with most farmers alleging they were at the centre of the corruption. Police had to intervene.

The picture in Guruve could have been replicated elsewhere in the country, for GMB systems are pathetically the same, with a common thread of corruption. Whilst the goings-on at Guruve GMB may have only been a tip of the iceberg, there are several lessons to be learnt.

The first and foremost being that corruption is the biggest cancer this country is facing, and has been institutionalised, especially in some Government departments. You cannot easily get a passport, you cannot pass through a roadblock without bribing an officer, you cannot get a school place without shaking the headmaster’s hand, etc.

Corruption is the biggest evil we have on our hands, and the more society keeps quiet, the more dangerous it will become. It was sad seeing an influential farmer driving off with 300 bags of fertiliser, within an hour of arriving at Guruve GMB, yet an elderly grandmother who had braved two days of hunger, scorching heat, mosquitoes, sleeping in the open and being tossed between the DA’s office and the depot, only to get two bags.

Mr Matthew Mpfurutsa, a councillor for Ward 5, could not have put it better. “The depot manager should have called, first, a meeting of councillors, village heads and chiefs and we should have worked out a formula on how to distribute the inputs.

“We would have looked at the number of wards we have, how many people are in each ward and, probably, have come up with a fair way of distributing the fertilisers.

“But in his wisdom, rather lack of, the depot manager called his friends first and they looted the allocated tonnage and then called in the communal farmers last, to receive two bags each.”

This is not the first time the Government has been supporting farmers and probably is not the last — and it is time mechanisms are put in place to allow for equitable distribution of resources, especially critical resources like farming inputs. Chances are the businessmen and farmers who got 200 to 300 bags had already prepared for the current season and will stock their loot for next season, yet there is a farmer who is yearning to till just a piece of land to feed his family.

And the sad part being that the businessman or farmer who got 200 or 300 bags does not even bother going to the polling station. Yet, the elderly grandmother who spent two nights sleeping in the open to receive two bags is the voter, is the one who is going to decide whether we keep our sovereignty or not in the next election. So, what impression of the President will that voter have, having spent two days and two nights in the open to receive two bags, yet someone just drove in and out within an hour, and with 200 bags?

That is why the President’s messengers are not the proper messengers. The scenario that played itself out last week in Guruve was reminiscent of the days when farmers got diesel the other year to support their farming activities. The levels of corruption then were so nauseous that it was not uncommon to see a farmer with over 2 000 litres of diesel and no tillage done on the land.

The bad thing is that President Mugabe does not get to know some of these things, chances are most of the times he is lied to, he is told other tall tales, that the fertilisers have reached the people, yet, in essence, they would have reached only a handful. If the President and Government want to support farmers, they should put in place mechanisms, like in this instance, the fertilisers were got on a credit basis.

The farmers would pay for them in the next season at US$15 per bag. One alternative would have been to ask farmers to pay US$15 cash upfront, like now, and get their fertilisers.

Chances are the fertilisers were going to be bought by the same looters, who can afford it, whereas the poor elderly grandmother cannot. Next option would have been the see-who-delivered-what, and the allocation should have been based on those who delivered more getting more. But then again, with the corruption that has been dogging the parastatal, some farmers were delivering maize they would have imported from neighbouring countries. The other option would have been to consider those who have not yet received payment from GMB for deliveries made last year — for those are most likely to be genuine farmers for the corrupt ones have already been paid. But all these mechanisms, one way or the other, would have disadvantaged the elderly grandmother, who could not have delivered anything.

This leaves the option of liaising with councillors, village heads and chiefs as the most logical, because they know their people and are in touch with the grassroots.
That way, the inputs would have gotten to the intended beneficiaries and the President’s intentions and messages would have been received. But as it stands, some are cursing the President, yet the President has done nothing wrong. There are people in the mix who are spoiling the President’s name and works and the earlier those people are rooted out the better, especially that we are facing such a landmark election.

There have been arguments that maize is cheaper in Zambia and Malawi, with some contending that it is because inputs in those countries are largely subsidised.
Government can argue that it does not have money to subsidise inputs but what happened last week in Guruve is an example of subsidised inputs being looted. So, in a way, we can afford to subsidise. If we can afford to subsidise our inputs, our grain becomes equally cheaper and the effects can be felt across the economy. Gradually, there should be no harm in selling fertilisers at US$15 across the board, with Government picking up the other tab.

That way, we should get our agriculture back on track. In conclusion, if the President has other upcoming ideas of helping the common people, the people who will vote for him, he should ensure that the people that he is sending are responsible people and are not tarnishing his name instead. It is a must-win election that we are facing.

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mazara@zimpapers.co.zw

Labels: GRAIN MARKETING BOARD ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 4:43 PM