‘Bogus workers at Admarc’

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Grey Nyandule Phiri says Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) has bogus employees that have bloated the institution’s payroll.

Speaking Thursday when the ministry officials appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Irrigation, Natural Resources and Climate Change, Phiri said the number of employees the corporation was not in line with what it was supposed to have as there were 4 378 employees which is not proper.

The PS said Admarc has been riddled with various challenges, including maladministration and failure to abide by the Employment Act, which forced the ministry to institute a head count in 2018.

Said Phiri: “After noting the mess at Admarc, we conducted a head count  which started in December 2018 and ended in February this year, we found that 221 employees were untraceable even though they were on payroll, there are 136 people who are supposed to go on retirement because they have surpassed the age of 60 but they did not.

“There were 721 temporary employees who overstayed for over a year and there were 982 who were supposed to be laid off because they didn’t have any job description and are not supposed to be on the payroll.”

Committee co-chairperson Werani Chilenga said it was clear from the PSs confession why Admarc has been underperforming in recent years.

The revelations followed Admarc management’s appearance before the same committee where it was labelled a failure for failing to manage programmes and resources, including overseeing the rotting of 7 000 tonnes of maize in its custody.