K1.7m aquaculture contracts face termination

ELEVEN cooperatives that got K1.7 million from Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) for aquaculture projects but abandoned work will have their contracts terminated for abrogating terms and conditions of the deals.
Aquaculture projects are managed by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock but they are funded under loans from CEEC.
The latest Auditor General’s report has revealed that 11 cooperatives got K1,747,162 in September 2019 but failed to operationalise the projects.
As of June this year, the contracts had not been terminated and the money had not been recovered.
But director of fisheries Alexander Kefi said the ministry delayed in terminating the contracts for the 11 cooperatives because it was following procedure to avoid legal consequences.
Dr Kefi was speaking yesterday when Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock Permanent Secretary Anna Songolo led her officers to appear before Public Accounts Committee.
“When we gave out the money, we had to check and see if the beneficiaries would put up the projects but they have not done so. This is when we want to terminate the contracts as per procedure,” he said.