24 July 2017•Update: 26 July 2017
By Francis Maingaila
LUSAKA, Zambia
An opposition leader who exposed a Zambia-Malawi maize deal scandal has taken the Zambian government to task for failing to reprimand the country's agriculture minister, Dora Siliya.
The scandal led the firing and arrest of former Malawi Agriculture Minister George Chaponda for his alleged involvement in the maize deal while Siliya has remained unscathed.
Savior Chishimba, of the United Progressive Party (UPP), told journalists on Monday that the Zambian government had been given overwhelming evidence showing Siliya’s alleged involvement in the maize deal.
However, both the government and the anti-corruption commission had not acted against her.
“I, personally, submitted the evidence to the Anti-Corruption Commission in Zambia linking Siliya to an illegal maize deal,” Chishimba said.
“The same evidence was given to the Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau and led to the arrest of the former agriculture minister [of Malawi].”
He added that Siliya should immediately be arrested and taken to court for not abuse of office and corruption, including embezzlement.
However, a spokesman for the Zambian government rejected Chishimba’s account.
“It is worrying that Dr. Chishimba could assume that if in the transaction process was irregular on the Malawian side, it should also be irregular on the Zambian side,” Information Minister Kampamba Mulenga told Anadolu Agency in a statement.
“That is fallacious. The matter in question has indeed been championed by Dr. Chishimba, as he states himself, and the Zambian government, through various organs, has exonerated itself from any irregularities in the export of the commodity.
“In February this year, State House said President [Edgar] Lungu allowed the export of 100,000 metric of maize to Malawi following the request by Malawi President Peter Mutharika.
“State House clarified that the Zambian minister in question and the Zambian government were not involved in the export of maize to Malawi.”
In July 2016, the two agriculture ministers from Zambia and Malawi reportedly used surrogate bodies, the Zambia Cooperative Federation and Malawi’s Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation, to sign a $34. 5 million deal.
Under the agreement, Zambia was to export 100,000 metric tons of maize to Malawi.
The ton of maize was reportedly overcharged and on July 19, anti-corruption investigators in Malawi arrested Chaponda.
