By Isaac Zulu
Ministry of Information media spokesperson Thabo Kawana says FDD leader Edith Nawakwi is no worth responding to, arguing that the exhorbitant mealie meal prices prevailing in the country are as a result of the unscruplous traders exploiting consumers.
Nawakwi is on record as having told Daily Revelation that President Hakainde Hichilema is a heartless man and an extortionist who wants to increase electricity tariffs when citizens have gone beyond the limits of suffering, and that instead of accusing millers as extortionists he was the real extortionist for increasing the price of fuel which has fueled up the prices of everything.
But reacting to Nawakwi’s statement, Kawana said that the UPND government will not waste time responding to the FDD leader, stressing that the New Dawn government has other serious matters to attend to; as opposed to engaging in some discourse with some leader of an opposition political party who just wants to attract political attention.
“As government, we are not going to waste time responding to Madam Edith Nawakwi’s rantings. She is not worth responding to,” Kawana said. “There are serious issues that we can talk about like when the country faces near unprecedented load shedding and the President intervenes. When the country experiences unprecedented increase in mealie meal prices and the President and his government intervenes to ensure that mealie meal prices are reduced. Not those issues being raised by Madam Edith Nawakwi. If somebody talks about unsubstantiated things, nikumusiya chabe. After they talk about all those things, then what?”
And Kawana said that the exorbitant mealie meal prices currently prevailing in the country are as a result of unscrupulous traders exploiting unsuspecting consumers.
He said that government has done its part by offloading maize to millers at a reduced price and wondered why “some unscrupulous traders are still exploiting consumers, thereby putting our people in an alkward position.”
“The Millers Association of Zambia is very innocent in this whole thing, the Food Reserve Agency is very innocent in this equation. The people that are creating this artificial increase in mealie meal prices are selfish and unscrupulous traders who are selling the commodity at an exorbitant price,” Kawana explained. “The Millers have stuck to the deal, FRA has honoured to its obligation of selling maize to millers at a reduced price, which is being transported by Zambia Railways to the Copperbelt. So the prices of mealie meal in Lusaka is at K150 while on the Copperbelt it is being sold at K170 per 25 kilogram bag. So why should you go and buy a bag of mealie meal at K210 or at K230 on the streets or in the compounds when the same commodity is selling at K170 and, when ZNS is selling the same commodity at K120? It goes therefore that the increase in mealie meal prices is artificial, only created by unscrupulous and selfish traders who want to continue exploiting the innocent consumers.”
Kawana said that the market forces will dictate the prices of mealie meal and other essential commodities, saying the unscrupulous traders will be shamed.
“Like I have said, the market forces will dictate the prices of mealie meal and the unscrupulous traders will be exposed and will be ashamed,” said Kawana.
