Stinking wheat, reeking politics

Nothing seems functional enough to roll the lives of a virtually dysfunctional nation called Bangladesh that has broken its ‘social contract’ and every organ of the state is going its own way.

In this reeking political culture, stench of imported rotten wheat is just part of the story. The rest is part history, part destiny. Even the solemnity of the holy month of Ramadan is not left incorruptible by those who prefer to guile constantly than quit their job.

He who fasts shall refrain from lying during fasting, ordains the Holy Quran. Yet, having caught in the vise of a seemingly insurmountable political attack for importing 200,000 MT of wheat from Brazil that is, according to experts, ‘unfit for human consumption,’ food minister Qamrul Islam is either lying while fasting, or both lying and fasting to save his sullied personal grace and that of the ‘dubious regime’  he props up.

Qamrul’s vouching in the parliament on July 6 that the imported wheat from Brazil is not only edible but ‘has no technical fault’ is a damn lie that experts in the government’s own laboratories find absurd, deceiving and reprehensible.

Outlined below is The Holiday’s own finding on a scam involving what is being fed by a self-styled government to our police and other security forces, the marginally poor, and, millions of ordinary consumers.

The ‘rotten wheat’ was procured through two foreign contractors, Netherlands-based Glencore Grain and Singapore-based Olam International; each supplying 150,000 MT and 50,000 MT, respectively. The deal cost the government exchequer around $46 million (about Tk 355 crore).

90% of the payment had already been made before some police personnel discovered that the wheat emitted bad odour, was infected by insects and, was unfit for human consumption. As the media grabbed the story, initial clues of massive cover up and underhand dealings emerged when the suppliers’ Certificate of Standard and Quality was found missing. Brazil’s agriculture ministry was supposed to issue the certificates, according to a concerned official.

Ilahi Dad Khan, an official of the food directorate, later told the media that they had accepted the consignment based on a certificate issued by one SGS company, which does pre-shipment inspection and which is not a government agency. This was the first anomaly and it evoked more suspicion.

Amidst desperation to manage what seemed like a brewing crisis, food minister Qamrul Islam told the parliament on June 20 that, “The government will not import wheat from Brazil anymore because of its poor quality.” He added, “If necessary, we’ll destroy the already imported wheat upon receiving the test reports.” The minister admitted in his deliberation to the parliament that the wheat ‘looked bad.’

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), a state- run outfit, found the imported Brazilian wheat substandard on June 26 and said, “All the supplied samples contained higher amount of shrunken and broken kernels than the required specification.”

Two days later, on June 28, a writ petition was filed with the High Court by a lawyer named Pabel Mia, challenging the legality of the import and its distribution, and, demanding a court order to initiate an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

This had put the government into an indefensible spot and doctoring of the subsequent reports began. For instance, the food ministry found the wheat ‘storable and fit for distribution’ after reportedly conducting tests in its own lab, according to media reports.

But sources say, and other media reports confirm, that further tests at the food directorate’s lab detected live insects and pests in samples sent from storage in Bogra, Joypurhat, Magura, Patuakhali, Sirajganj and Sherpur. The government was again caught wrong-footed.

Besides, the BCSIR’s Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) detected the presence of shrunken and damaged kernels between 9.93 percent and 21.11 percent, which is higher than the 8 percent permissible in the specification.

More importantly, the food ministry has been delaying the conduct of a toxicity test to ascertain whether the imported wheat is at all edible. The concerned ministry has also failed as yet to test the disputed wheat to ascertain its edibility standard.

Zahurul Haque, head of the IFST, said, “We tested eight parameters in line with the requirement of the food ministry. We did not conduct test to find whether the wheat is fit for human consumption.”

This scam hits home at a time when the monsoon is in full swing, millions are being uprooted by river erosion and flooding and, about 4 million MT of wheat is needed to meet market need and vulnerable feeding. Domestic output is not expected to surpass one million MT, according to various forecasts.

A genuine fear of famine now looms large, according to some analysts, due to recurring supply shortfall of wheat since 2013 in the public sector. In 2013, government managed to import only 350,000 MT against a targeted 800,000 MT. Consequently, reserves dipped to an alarming 950,000 MT, lowest in five years, from 1.4 million MT a year earlier.

Despite more than half of the total need of wheat being fulfilled by private sector traders, the government had dragged its feet miserably in playing its part and compounded the crisis further. Evidence and anecdotes suggest the delays are caused by a machination to wring out commission from foreign suppliers and their agents.

Upon being sworn into power for the second time in a row in January 2014 following an electoral farce, the government decided to buy 250,000 MT of wheat through open tender and another 200,000 MT through government-to-government deals.

According to one source, Ukraine and one other government backed out more than once in the recent past from deals to supply wheat to Bangladesh government following arduous bargains relating to over invoicing and offering of commission to power that be, under the table.

That explains why time and again the target could not be fulfilled and why the public perception of the government being reckless, corrupt, unaccountable and inefficient is proving true.

Source: Weekly Holiday