A top civil servant in Swaziland has said that the sale by
the government of maize donated by Japan to feed hungry people in the kingdom was
not an anomaly.
It was revealed this week that nearly 12,000 metric
tonnes of maize intended for humanitarian purposes had been sold through the National
Maize Corporation on the open market and the E24 million (US$3 million) raised
was put in a special account at the Central Bank of Swaziland.
Now, Phephisa Khoza, editor of the Swazi News, reports that the sale was not considered by government
to be unusual.
Writing in her own newspaper (16 March 2013) she reported
Ministry of Economic Planning and Development Principal Secretary Bertram
Stewart, saying that selling the maize donated by the Japanese Government was
not an anomaly.
The Japanese Government has not commented publicly on the
sale, but Stewart claimed Japan knew about the sale. He said money raised was
to be spent on subsidies for farm inputs for farmers.
In Swaziland three in ten people are officially
classified as malnourished and they rely on humanitarian food aid to stop from
starving.
What Stewart did not explain was why, if the Japanese
Government wanted to assist farmers with subsidies, it did not do so openly.
Senior Royal, Prince Hlangusemphi, who is Minister for
Economic Planning and Development, has yet to make a public statement on the
sale, which is seen in some quarters as a scandal.
Earlier this week, the Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III,
called the government decision to sell the maize ‘callousness’. In an
editorial comment it said, ‘to let down its needy citizens is such a low down,
dirty shame’.
See also
GOVT SELLS MAIZE DONATED FOR HUNGRY
GOVT-DONATED MAIZE SCANDAL WON’T DIE
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