MINISTRY of Agriculture Permanent Secretary Green Mbozi says it was difficult to do away with some fertiliser suppliers, adding that the two year running contracts signed in 2020 were crafted to disadvantage government. And Mbozi says government had no choice but to plead with the suppliers who failed to deliver fertiliser in the previous farming season, stating that cancelling the contracts would have risked the country being food insecure. The latest Auditor General’s report indicated that in July 2022, the Ministry continued with direct bidding using the justification of time constraint, despite being advised to subject all procurements to competition. In addition, during the 2021/2022 farming season, government signed contracts for inputs in amounts totalling $430,336,620.18 which were not competitive....
