ETG Sales Clerks In Custody For Overcharging Subsidised Fertiliser

Two female sales clerk for Export Trading Group (ETG) in Mwanza district have been arrested for allegedly overpricing fertiliser under Government 'Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP)' meant for smallholder farmers.

Under FISP, smallholder farmers are buying each bag of fertilizer at K3, 500. However the two officers asking farmers to pay an extra K1,500 per bag of the commodity.

Two employees Thokozani Chitaonga aged 18 and Martha Jali aged 32 working at Mchotseni ETG Depot were caught red handed after a victim customer reported them to police.

Confirming on the development, Mwanza district Police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Edwin Kaunda, said as the two were on duty on Tuesday selling fertiliser they told a customer wanting to buy two bags of fertilizer to pay more than normal price.

Inspector Kaunda said when the customer identified as Richard Mikeasi was about to pay for his two bags of fertilizer the two female sales clerks asked him to pay K10 thousand instead of K7 thousand.

"The customer was surprised to hear these women asking him to pay extra K3 thousand to get two bags of fertiliser. But he accepted to pay as told and he later tipped police about his encounter at the shop." Explains Kaunda

"When we got the information we did not hesitate to effect an arrest of these two women" said Kaunda

The suspects Thokozani Chitaonga aged 18 hails from Malili village in the area of Traditional Authority Malili in Lilongwe while her accomplice Martha Jali aged 32 hails from Mapila village in the area of Traditional Authority Njolomole in Ntcheu district.

The Police officer said the two will get charges of Official Corruption and are expected to appear in court soon.