SCANDAL AT DMMU
DMMU AWARDS $22 MILLION CONTRACT TO A SMALL COMPANY TO PURCHASE MAIZE GRAIN WITHOUT COMPETITION
…DMMU pays 20% upfront to Newgrowco Z Ltd…
The Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) has been directed by State House to give a procurement contract to a newly registered agro company, Newgrowco (Z) Ltd, to import and supply DMMU 50,000 metric tonnes of maize grain.
DMMU has committed a procurement through single-sourcing (direct bidding) at K11,000 per tonne, which is far higher than the commodity is trading locally.
The order is worth $22million or (K550 million).
For example the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) is buying a 50 kilogramme bag of maize at K330. 00 or K6,600.00 per metric tonne and imports range about K7,500-K8,500.00 per tonne.
Newgrowco Zambia Ltd has been awarded this single-sourced contract without the participation of other agro and industry players in the market.
Stakeholders in the sector have condemned the move and have requested that DMMU must advertise for the opportunity to be available to all agro dealers and traders.
When contacted for a comment on its contact number (+260 763 888 811), Newgrowco Zambia Ltd official, stated that it has been doing agriculture commodity, trading, grain
management, storage services, and input supply and support services in Zambia since 2018 and saw nothing wrong as it deserved the procurement order from DMMU.
Government recently signed a government-to-government contract with Tanzania, a contract for the purchase of 650,000 metric tonnes of Non- Genetically Modified Organisms -GMO- maize valued at 227 Million US dollars (lsnding cost of K7,000 per tonne).
In March 2024, President Hakainde Hichilema declared the drought the country is experiencing a national disaster and emergency.
He said he declared a national disaster due to the drought that affected the Souther region.
President Hichilema announced that 6.8 million people face starvation due to mass crop failure that affevted especial the southern and central parts of the country and require food help.
Recently, cooperating partners have responded to President Hichilema’s call for aide and have pumped in millions of dollars towards the $ 900 million budget required to tackle the food shortages.