Government has announced the suspension of all services of the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) with immediate effect. 

Making the announcement on Wednesday in Lilongwe, Minister responsible for Agriculture Lobin Lowe said the decision has been considered as a result of prolonged conflicts between the Corporation’s Board of directors and Management leading to poor governance.

“For over two years we have been in government, we have been analysing best ways of restructuring this institution and my ministry together with other shareholders of Admarc has concluded that Admarc’s failure to tick and bring the desired results is attributed to numerous factors.

Some of these include abuse of Company finances and theft by some employees, low productivity contributed to laziness of some Company employees, suspected corrupt practices perpetrated by some employees of the Company,” Lowe said.

According to Lowe, the suspended Admarc staff will be on paid leave and that the decision will not affect sale of maize in hot spot areas where Admarc has markets.

He said: “You may wish to note that this decision herein communicated, will not affect sale of maize in hot spot areas where we have opened Admarc markets.

As I have highlighted, some very few officers have already been communicated to take charge of such markets to allow continued sale of maize.”

But reacting to the development, the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Food Security has described the situation as very unfortunate and retrogressive.

“It’s a very sad day for our country, you know Admarc has been the backbone of our economy and number produce, buyer and exporter.

To see the death of Admarc like this is this is very sad, we have been saying that this government is clueless, how would you dissolve Admarc just like that?” said Sameer Suleman who chairs the Committee.

The agriculture minister has since cautioned that all members of staff for Admarc that any member of staff who will report to the office without being communicated to will be considered as a trespasser and necessary action will be taken.

Admarc was established in Malawi in 1971 as a government-owned corporation or parastatal to promote the Malawian economy by increasing the volume and quality of its agricultural exports, to develop new foreign markets for the consumption of Malawian agricultural produce and to support Malawi’s farmers.