Citizens for Justice, Equity calls for action for Admarc operationalization

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ADMARC

Citizen for Justice and Equity has asked Malawi’s attorney general and other concerned stakeholders to act swiftly and make sure that the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) is well-capacitated.

Recently, the Court ordered the haunting of Admarc by, among other things, freezing its bank accounts and sanctioning the sheriff to seize its assets.

The court order came following the failure by Admarc to pay K25 billion compensation to 3 282 employees that the State produce trader retrenched in January 2023.

In his comment during an interview, Citizen for Justice and Equity spokesperson Agape Khombe stated that the freezing of Admarc accounts will negatively affect its services, including selling maize to Malawians who have been affected by hunger across the country.

Khombe further asked Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda to immediately intervene on the matter so that citizens start enjoying its services.

“Government, through Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda, should quickly intervene and speed up all the processes to make sure Admarc is back to life,” added Khombe.

He reminded authorities to consider revamping Admarc activities to make easyycessibility for Malawians who always depend on it when it comes to food access.

Citizen for Justice and Equity believes that leaving the way things move on the Admarc case will affect most Malawians in future.

The sheriffs on Tuesday impounded two vehicles at the parastatal’s headquarters in Blantyre.

Apart from that, they also took the fixed assets register, which details all the property which Admarc owns.

In a circular order dated January 30 2023, Admarc announced the retrenchment of all staff with effect from February 1 2023 as part of its restructuring process.

The court also granted the retrenched staff their wish in a November 15 2024 ruling. It ordered Admarc to pay the former employees K25 billion comprising K7 billion compensation for unfair dismissal and K18 billion for unfair labour practices.

But Admarc asked the court to put aside the execution of the earlier order pending appeal of the judgement, and the IRC ordered Admarc to immediately pay K12.5 billion as part payment of the initial compensation award.

In September 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture closed Admarc and sent its entire staff on paid leave to pave the way for restructuring. However, it continued to perform some social services with selected staff members.