FYABUFI: MUNDUBILE QUESTIONS US$150 MILLION FISP SAVINGS
… this is meant to hoodwink Zambians, attract praise
Lusaka, Monday (26th December 2022)
Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Brian Mundubile, says President Hakainde Hichilema’s announcement that Government saved US$ 150 million in this year’s Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) is meant to hoodwink Zambians from questioning the failures of his administration and to attract praise.
Mr Mundubile who is Patriotic Front (PF) Presidential Candidate, said the figures do not add up because the number of FISP beneficiaries remained the same while the quantum of support to a single beneficiary was also not increased.
“I would really want to know from the President how he saved US$ 150 million. It will be very difficult for one to convince us that they could actually be able to save up to that much because the last time we checked the figures, the total contracts were worth US$300 million so basically, they have saved 50 percent, how? When the prices have actually gone up. We have taken that with a pinch of salt,” Mr Mundubile said.
He expressed concern that Government was preoccupied with procurement procedures of farming inputs without thinking of the people of Zambia, who are its number one client.
“Let’s give him (President Hichilema) a benefit of doubt and believe that indeed that amount of money was saved. But that money would have been saved at the expense of hundreds of thousands of farmers being unable to access farming inputs on time. That saving would have come at the expense of national food security,” Mr Mundubile said.
He said this is what happens when a government is focused on running business at the expense of the poor Zambians.
“In any case if you look at it from the other side, you know we are dealing with a government that is in a habit of not telling the truth, we really have to check the numbers of the same because of the cuff if I were to do some quick numbers, I know that the price of fertiliser has moved from let’s say K450 to K500 per bag to a K1000 or slightly more.
“You remember that we are dealing with a government that is in a hurry to secure screaming headlines in the newspapers… in the press but when you get to the real detail US$150 million, where was that saving because the price of fertiliser has gone up,” Mr Mundubile said.
He also said it was projected that the country would record low crop yields next year because Government had mishandled the distribution of farming inputs.
“Right now, we do not even know what would happen next year given that when the UPND took over power in 2021, even when they had all the fertiliser, all the inputs in warehouses that the PF had procured, they still mishandled the farming season and the yield went down by 25 percent. So, in this particular case, we expect the yield to even go lower,” Mr Mundubile said.
He also observed that Government was now avoiding to use the services of the Auditor General’s Office, which is mandated to audit public institutions in preference of friendly private auditing firms.
He said from the evidence so far collected, these private auditing firms had been given predetermined outcomes to paint the previous Government as corrupt and the current Government “white or as angels.”
“Recently, there is an auditor who resigned from an assignment under Securities and Exchange Commission because he was being given a predetermined outcome. Because he was a professional who had ethics, he simply resigned. So, what does that say about the other auditors who remained on that assignment and many other assignments that we have seen in the recent past?” he said
