APPROXIMATELY, RM211 million in fines, imposed on Government appointed suppliers for late delivery of ferterlizers to paddy farmers, were wiped out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
THE Ministry's move is blatantly REPULSIVE with a number of RED FLAGS, such as going against the Ministry of Finance advise, that the fines be collected that the Auditor's Report tabled on November 2023, READ : said the move to give a 100 per cent discount as an act which is against the interest of the Federal Government.
BEFORE, we go rushing for the heads of the civil servants at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, a proper investigation should be done to assert if the higher up at the Ministry were doing it on their own accord, or were they just following the instructions of the then Minister.
THE major player in this sector is NAFAS, which had started courting controversy as early as 2021, when READ : Ismail Sabri appointed his own brother to head NAFAS.
LATE, delivery of Government subsidised fertilizers, some as LATE AS 160 DAYS, READ : is one of the main reason, why paddy out put is on the decline, failing to achieve any of the out put targets set at the national level.
THE current Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Mohammed Sabu, has got to shape up or ship himself out, as there is a fresh RN151.96 million in fines due for the 2020 up to 2022 period, which has yet to be collected.
AT least under Mat Sabu, the Ministry now wants to collect those amount but the minister, should go ask his top officials, how on earth did they give the fertilizer distributors a 76.6 per cent over 100 per cent positive score , for a sector maligned WITH LATE DELIVERY.