Years into the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) claiming that it has insufficient resources to operate, a national Audit Office (NAO) report has shown that the parastatal has abused resources by failing to provide evidence for purchases amounting to K3 billion, failure to prepare bank reconciliations, non-compliance with procurement procedures, omitting bank accounts in the general ledger, non remittances of pension contributions as well as non remittance of pay as you earn (Paye), fringe benefit tax and withholding tax.

Last month, the Admarc acting chief executive officer Felix Jumbe told Parliament that Admarc needs $300 million (about K222 billion) for recapitalisation to ensure smooth operations. The audit of Admarc financial statements for the financial year ending June 30 2018, done by Deloitte, shows that Admarc could not provide bank reconciliations for the months of July 2017 to May 2018 for several bank accounts held at different banks. “It appears that in the entire year ended 30 June 2018, the entity only prepared bank reconciliations for the month of June 2018 for external audit purposes” says the audit.

Meanwhile farmers suffer at the mismanagement of resources or posts, Admarc is currently struggling to buy other commodities other than maize. Farmers recently bemoaned the lack of stable markets for cotton, legumes and more.

In January this year, during the launch of Agriculture Commercialisation (Agcom) project, World Bank Country Manager for Malawi, Greg Toulmin, called on the government to act on ensuring that the Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) performs its expected functions and reduce market distortions. The call came after the state grain trader reported its struggling; Admarc workers in Mzuzu said time has come for Admarc to reclaim its business after years of poor performance. Last year, employees in Blantyre protested for better salaries and pension remittance.