Aid scandal probe wraps up

INVESTIGATIONS into why tons of food aid were left to go to waste in a military warehouse near Katima Mulilo have reached an advanced stage.

A special team instructed by the Prime Minister to probe why flood victims never received the food said yesterday that they now had answers for what went wrong. But what these reasons are and whether the explanations provided during two weeks of interrogations are acceptable, will remain under wraps until they are presented to the Prime Minister and Cabinet, possibly by the end of the week.”We dug up those involved.The answers are there now,” the team leader, Environment Deputy Permanent Secretary Ndeutapo Amagulu, told The Namibian yesterday.”But until such time as the findings are presented to the Prime Minister, we are curtailed in revealing what we have found.”A month ago, Cabinet Secretary Frans Kapofi and Deputy Director of the Emergency Management Unit Gabriel Kangowa were disgusted to find 230 tons of maize meal, thousands of bottles of cooking oil, tins of biscuits and packets of instant rice being attacked by mice and monkeys at M’pacha.They should have been delivered to those in need.Kapofi described the situation as one of the country’s “worst cases of negligence”.During his visit, officials at the town offered the stopping of overtime payments, as ordered by the Prime Minister’s Office last September, as a possible reason why the food was never delivered.Others maintained that nepotism and tribalism played a role in determining who received food aid.The investigation team said yesterday that it was premature to say whether any of these claims held water.But they did confirm that they now knew how the food arrived at the warehouse and that it was definitely intended for flood victims.Last month, Caprivi Governor Bernard Sibalatani referred to the aid as “mysterious food stocks”.He maintained that he was unaware that it was there, or whether it was intended for drought relief or for flood victims who were to continue receiving aid even after they returned to their homes from the relocation centres.Amagulu, Kangowa, Education Deputy Permanent Secretary Stanley Simataa, Penda Naanda from the Cabinet Secretariat and Abel Hamutenya from the Red Cross were holed up for the whole of yesterday analysing the findings of the last fortnight.They said they had interviewed numerous officials, councillors, traditional leaders and even flood victims themselves, in search of the truth.”We are making conclusions on our findings and then will possibly recommend what we think went wrong, what was done, what was not done and in future what should be done,” Amagulu said.Amagulu said their investigations could confirm that the food was indeed destined for flood victims.After local health inspectors labelled the food as unfit for human consumption, a team of experts from the Ministry of Health was also dispatched to the region to verify this finding.They left the area last week, and results of their tests are to be submitted in a separate report to the Prime Minister’s Office.Amagulu said it was believed the “negligence” found at Katima Mulilo was the only case of its kind.After the Katima Mulilo find, the EMU said it feared that other regions might also being storing food which should be given to the needy.Caprivi residents are said to be going hungry even in the urban centres, scavenging for leftover food.Poor rains have made even a mediocre harvest unlikely this year.But what these reasons are and whether the explanations provided during two weeks of interrogations are acceptable, will remain under wraps until they are presented to the Prime Minister and Cabinet, possibly by the end of the week.”We dug up those involved.The answers are there now,” the team leader, Environment Deputy Permanent Secretary Ndeutapo Amagulu, told The Namibian yesterday.”But until such time as the findings are presented to the Prime Minister, we are curtailed in revealing what we have found.”A month ago, Cabinet Secretary Frans Kapofi and Deputy Director of the Emergency Management Unit Gabriel Kangowa were disgusted to find 230 tons of maize meal, thousands of bottles of cooking oil, tins of biscuits and packets of instant rice being attacked by mice and monkeys at M’pacha. They should have been delivered to those in need.Kapofi described the situation as one of the country’s “worst cases of negligence”.During his visit, officials at the town offered the stopping of overtime payments, as ordered by the Prime Minister’s Office last September, as a possible reason why the food was never delivered.Others maintained that nepotism and tribalism played a role in determining who received food aid.The investigation team said yesterday that it was premature to say whether any of these claims held water.But they did confirm that they now knew how the food arrived at the warehouse and that it was definitely intended for flood victims.Last month, Caprivi Governor Bernard Sibalatani referred to the aid as “mysterious food stocks”.He maintained that he was unaware that it was there, or whether it was intended for drought relief or for flood victims who were to continue receiving aid even after they returned to their homes from the relocation centres.Amagulu, Kangowa, Education Deputy Permanent Secretary Stanley Simataa, Penda Naanda from the Cabinet Secretariat and Abel Hamutenya from the Red Cross were holed up for the whole of yesterday analysing the findings of the last fortnight.They said they had interviewed numerous officials, councillors, traditional leaders and even flood victims themselves, in search of the truth.”We are making conclusions on our findings and then will possibly recommend what we think went wrong, what was done, what was not done and in future what should be done,” Amagulu said.Amagulu said their investigations could confirm that the food was indeed destined for flood victims.After local health inspectors labelled the food as unfit for human consumption, a team of experts from the Ministry of Health was also dispatched to the region to verify this finding.They left the area last week, and results of their tests are to be submitted in a separate report to the Prime Minister’s Office.Amagulu said it was believed the “negligence” found at Katima Mulilo was the only case of its kind.After the Katima Mulilo find, the EMU said it feared that other regions might also being storing food which should be given to the needy.Caprivi residents are said to be going hungry even in the urban centres, scavenging for leftover food.Poor rains have made even a mediocre harvest unlikely this year.