adminmulti-million dollar ethanol project in Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Water and Resettlement clashed with Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister, Joseph Made, after they felt that he was being evasive in his responses to questions they had posed over the project. The project is between the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority and two firms, Macdon Investments and Ratings Investments owned by business magnate Billy Rautenbach. The legislators accused the minister of evading questions when he said he did not know certain aspects of the project while the minister accused one of the lawmakers of uttering remarks that were “below the belt”.
Minister Made urged them to desist from putting words in his mouth. The committee wanted the minister to respond to various issues regarding the project.
One of the issues was that a due diligent report commissioned by his predecessors had indicated that the project benefited the investor more than the Government. After a protracted exchange, the committee resolved to direct the minister to go and research before he is called again to give evidence. The committee’s chairperson Mr Moses Jiri asked the Minister if he was aware of an evaluation report compiled by industry and commerce on the project. Minister Made said he was not aware and would be pleased should he be furnished with it. When asked if he was aware of the report by the national taskforce on the project,
Minister Made said it was prudent for the committee to direct their questions to the taskforce.
The committee also asked him if the two firms were not one entity in terms of their management and ownership. Minister Made said the investors themselves would best answer that question. He was also asked why his Ministry ignored an audit report compiled by Kudenga Chartered Accountants commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture before he became head of the Ministry.
“Mr Chairman, The Ministry is not aware of both the existence of the report by Kudenga and the person who commissioned the report and would be happy to see the report,” said Minister Made who repeatedly read the same response when MPs sought clarification.
The Minister’s response raised the ire of the legislators. Muzarabani South MP, Cde Edward Raradza (Zanu-PF) said it was strange that Minister Made was professing ignorance on questions that related to his Ministry despite the fact that the committee had given him the questions in advance.
“This is why we are having problems in Ministries. If you say because I was not yet there I don’t have time to read the reports. If he says he doesn’t know what are we doing here, we can’t continue asking him because
he doesn’t know, maybe he was busy preparing inputs,” said Cde Raradza.
Minister Made retorted: “Let’s no go below the belt with each other.”
Mutoko North MP Cde Mabel Chinomona (Zanu-PF) said it was strange that the Minister was referring questions posed to him to the Arda board yet it is him who appointed it. The board reports to the Minister.
Mr Jiri said from the information the committee had gathered, the national taskforce had recommended against the project. Former Arda general manager Mr Eric Mvududu who has already given oral evidence before the same committee said he lost his job because he opposed it.
“Mvududu became a victim of the project because he insisted that we should go with the Kudenga audit and he became unpopular,” said Mr Jiri who is also Chikomba Central MP, (MDC-T)
Minister Made said the Arda board was already working out a package for Mr Mvududu after the labour dispute spilled into the courts. But Mr Jiri said the court had directed that Arda reinstate him and asked Minister Made to furnish them with the real position.
Online Reporter