People of Thele Village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Kalumo in Ntchisi are complaining that their Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) coupons were withdrawn by the district commissioner’s (DC) office.
In a telephone interview on Thursday, Ntchisi district commissioner James Manyetera confirmed that his office had withdrawn coupons because the names and national identification numbers on the register did not match with those of the people who went to collect the coupons.
He said: “The village itself has only about 28 people and we are wondering where the rest are coming from and why they were listed.
“When we told the T/A that most of these people are not from her village, she said we still needed to give her the rest of the coupons since they were registered with the village. However, that’s not how it works.”
Manyetera said that the coupons would be sorted again and distributed to other beneficiaries. He said investigations are underway to find out more about the issues of false identities.
According to one of the affected people, who asked for anonymity, officials claim that the coupons were withdrawn because names on the registered list of beneficiaries did not match identities of those who went to collect the coupons.
He said they had gone to the DC’s office to lodge their complaint but were still denied the coupons.
