Agriculture Minister Dr Mahendra Reddy says he put a stop to the allocation of $250,000 from an International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) loan that was earmarked for the construction of a Vodafone tower.
He said this at the World Food Day celebrations in Rakiraki recently where he also hit out at IFAD for dictating how an agriculture loan should be used.
“IFAD money was poured in with a long list of consultants when the ministry became Ministry of Agriculture,” Dr Reddy said.
“When I asked where all the money has gone and all these consultants were sitting there said, ‘Minister we ran this workshop’.
“There was a quarter million dollars allocated to construct a Vodafone tower in the interior — that IFAD money was being used to construct a Vodafone tower.
“That’s a capital project for Vodafone, why should we fund it?” Mr Reddy said he put a stop to the project and had the money returned.
“So, you see how the money was wasted — that money was a loan and we should have taken control of that money instead IFAD was dictating how that money was to be utilised.
“That money was a loan so why should you control it.”
