SALE OF FOOD AID: GOVT ON DEFENSIVE

The Swaziland Government has been forced into making a public statement for the first time after news that it sold maize donated as food aid for hungry children in the kingdom on the open market and deposited the US$3 million takings in a special bank account.

News of the scandal has circulated in media across the world over the past two weeks and the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, has been criticised for taking food from the mouths of the hungry.

In Swaziland one in three people are officially classified as malnourished and they rely on donated food from foreign donor agencies to stop from starving. In particular, the maize was intended to feed people in drought stricken areas of the kingdom.

But, instead of feeding King Mswati’s hungry subjects, the government decided to sell the maize on the open market to raise E25 million (US$3 million). This money has been deposited in a special account at the Central Bank of Swaziland.

The sale of nearly 12,000 tonnes of maize raised concerns in the international donor community because donations are expected to be used for their intended purpose. In the past large donor agencies, such as the European Union, have stopped giving money as ‘budget support’ to Swaziland: money that the government would be allowed to spend as it saw fit, because it could not be trusted to spend the money appropriately.

Instead, donor agencies will now only fund specific projects where it is clear how the money, or goods donated, will be used.

In the case of the Japanese food aid, the maize was clearly intended to be used to feed the hungry.

Now, Government Spokesman Percy Simelane has issued a press release claiming that the sale of the maize was not illegal. 

He said the donors, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), were aware of the arrangement. This has not been confirmed by Japan.

Simelane stated that it was not the first time government had sold donated items: a consignment of fertilizer donated by the Japanese government had also been sold.

He said the money raised was put aside to assist in developing pro-poor programmes in agriculture. He did not say how the hungry people of Swaziland had been fed in the absence of the maize.

See also

SALE OF FOOD AID BY GOVT ‘NOT ANOMALY’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/03/sale-of-food-aid-by-govt-not-anomaly.html

GOVT SELLS MAIZE DONATED FOR HUNGRY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/03/govt-sells-maize-donated-for-hungry.html

GOVT-DONATED MAIZE SCANDAL WON’T DIE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/03/govt-donated-maize-scandal-wont-die.html

SALE OF FOOD AID BY GOVT ‘ NOT ANOMALY’

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

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/03/govt-sells-maize-donated-for-hungry.html

GOVT-DONATED MAIZE SCANDAL WON’T DIE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/03/govt-donated-maize-scandal-wont-die.html

GOVT DONATED MAIZE SCANDAL WON’T DIE

The scandal of Swaziland Government taking US$3 million worth of maize donated for the hungry in the kingdom and selling it on the openmarket will not die down

The Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, called it ‘callousness’ and a ‘dirty shame’. 

Senior Royal, Prince Hlangusemphi, who is Minister for Economic Planning and Development is under attack after it was revealed that 11,498 metric tonnes of maize had been donated by Japan to feed the hungry, but had been sold through the National Maize Corporation.

The Observer, in an editorial comment, said today (13 March 2013) the Prince, ‘better have plausible answers when he responds to the issue of a maize donation that ended up in a government account, instead of the tummies of thousands of impoverished Swazis who needed it the most.

‘In fact, it is still hard to believe that government decided to sell the maize so it could swell up its dwindling coffers, doing this at the expense of multitudes that go to bed without anything to eat as a result of the dire straits they live in on a daily basis.’

In Swaziland, three people in ten are malnourished and rely on humanitarian food aid to survive.

The Observer went on to call the government’s action ‘callousness’. It said, ‘to let down its needy citizens is such a low down, dirty shame’.

The Observer said the decision to sell the maize rather than give it to the intended recipients, ‘simply qualifies the assertion held by a larger segment of the populace that this government just does not care about the plight of the people at grass root level’.

It said the government had been, ‘hoarding donor food in a bid to make a quick buck, which is then stashed at the Central Bank, as to for whose benefit, only they know’.

It added, ‘This then clearly shows how greedy they can be.’

See also

GOVT SELLS MAIZE DONATED FOR HUNGRY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/03/govt-sells-maize-donated-for-hungry.html

GOVT SELLS MAIZE DONATED FOR HUNGRY

The Swaziland Government sold off maize worth US$3 million that had been donated to the kingdom by Japan to feed the near-starving population.

A report presented to the Swazi Parliament on Monday (11 March 2013) revealed that 11,498 metric tonnes of maize had been donated by Japan, but had been sold through the National Maize Corporation.

About one person in three in Swaziland is malnourished according to a report called Poverty in a Decade of Slow Economic Growth: Swaziland in the 2000s, published in 2011 by the Swazi Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. They rely on foreign food aid.

The Swazi Observer newspaper reported that members of parliament expressed disappointment that while the people in the communities have no food, government was able to sell maize that was donated to assist those people. 

This was during the debate of the annual performance report of the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development.

Ngwemphisi MP Veli Shongwe said it showed the government did not care for the people.

The newspaper reported, ‘The sale of the maize is revealed in the annual performance report of the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development where it states that 11,498 metric tonnes of maize was donated by the Japanese government in 2011 and was sold through the National Maize Corporation. The ministry reported that E24 million was made from the sale and the funds were deposited in a special account at the Central Bank.’

The government has still to respond to the report.

See also

PM GETS IT WRONG ON POVERTY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/03/pm-gets-it-wrong-on-poverty.html