By Isaac Zulu
Vice-President Mutale Nalumango says Zambia National Service (ZNS) will distribute mealie meal from its milling plants to all parts of the country, including in districts where there are no Shoprite chain stores.
And Vice-President Nalumango says the government has no intentions of offloading GMO maize in the country, in its quest to reduce the price of mealie meal.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Vice-President Nalumango said ZNS has the capacity to produce mealie meal that is going to be sold at a reasonable price.
“As far as I know, there are no instructions to sell ZNS produced mealie meal only in Shoprite,” Vice-President Nalumango said.
She said this in response to Shiwang’andu member of parliament Stephen Kampyongo who said the whole Muchinga Province has no Shoprite chain stores and wondered how the people in that region would access ZNS produced mealie meal.
And Vice-President Nalumango said the UPND administration will not offload farm produce that would have some health implications on its citizens.
She said the country has enough maize stocks in its strategic reserves, adding that the challenge has been the pricing of mealie meal by private sector players involved in the production of the staple food.
“We have made our position very clear that government has no intention of importing GMO maize. Government has a responsibility to protect its citizens and the UPND government will not feed people on farm produce that might have health implications on them,” Nalumango said.
The Vice-President was speaking in Parliament on Thursday when opposition members of parliament raised concerns about reports suggesting that the UPND administration intends to offload GMO maize in the country.
