By Daily Revelation Editor
Desperate situations call for desperate solutions and actions. However, solutions made under desperate circumstances end up being disastrous. This is the case in Zambia involving the government and the skyrocketing of mealie meal prices. The action taken by government to activate what could be referred to as an “emergency” response to tackle the escalating price of mealie meal could be seen as a good step on the face value, but may have disastrous implications in the medium to long term.
For the past couple of months, Zambians have been complaining of the high cost of living, especially patterning to mealie meals prices going beyond their reach – which is a very unhealthy situation indeed.
Ultimately, this situation has attracted serious criticism on the government, with those in the opposition using it as political card to decampaign Hakainde Hichilema and his government.
Arising from the criticism, the government has stepped in by involving the Zambia National Service (ZNS) to produce mealie meal which would be sold in Shoprite Chain stores at K180 per 25kg for roller meal, and K230 per 25kg for breakfast meal.
Much as this step sounds good, there are so many unanswered questions. First is the fact that a bag costing K180 is what is being described as cheap in Zambia today. We wonder how many families will manage to even raise this same K180 every after two to three weeks every month to buy the staple commodity, especially among the poorest. A staple meal should never cost in such high regions, especially when the people were promised that they would be buying the commodity for only K50.
Then, we are wondering how many Shoprite stores are there in the country. Does each township in Lusaka Province and other regions of the country have a Shoprite store? The answer is categorical No! Therefore it means that the majority millions who do not have access to some Shoprite Store nearby will continue to buy their cherished mealie meal at slightly more expensive prices than those who will be buying from Shoprite. And how about the issue of tuma queues at the same Shoprite stores? Won’t this be like the issue of coupons during the last years of the Kaunda reign when our parents and grandparents would queue up from morning to evening, sometimes even days just to access a bag of mealie meal? And won’t this also open other ‘black markets’ where people will be buying huge quantities of the commodity at around K20 less the obtaining market price from Shoprite and have to resale it at say K10 less the market price to consumers, and thereby putting further strain on the other millers in the market?
And coming back to the issue of accessibility, how will people access the same ZNS branded mealie meal? Will people from Linda in Lusaka for instance have to move from their homes to get to the nearest Shoprite located at Cosmopolitan Mall? Similarly, those from Ngómbe compound will now have to walk to Manda Hill to buying the still expensive mealie meal, despite being K20 less, from Shoprite located at Manda Hill? Maybe we shall now see a new culture in the country where it will now become customary for people to move long distances carrying bags of mealie meal on their heads and shoulders. We are wondering. Has the government secretly introduced body building exercises without announcing it to Zambians?
As for Zambians outside Lusaka, the ZNS branded mealie meal is virtually a pipe dream to access because Shoprite Stores are largely located only in provincial centres.
Secondly, there is something wrong with the UPND administration in as far as thinking about the plight of majority poor Zambians is concerned. Indeed, we agree with the adage that, “when one drinks tea with milk every day, they tend to think everyone else drinks tea with milk”.
It’s just absurd that Zambians today are buying mealie meal at over K280, even the much hyped K250 is just too much.
Even if a 25kg bag of mealie meal was reduced to K150, it would still be expensive and inaccessible to most Zambians, and would still cause majority of our people to survive on “tuma pamelas”. The same tuma pamelas the President said will become an issue of the past if he were elected President.
The President did not promise our people K280 for a 25kg bag of mealie meal; he promised them K50 for a 25kg of mealie meal and this is what is expected of him to honour if he is to win the trust of the Zambian people.
The other important question begging for honest answers is how sustainable is this “emergency” response? What measures has the government put in place to curb pilferage and smuggling of the mealie outside the country? We say this because we know how porous and corrupt the whole system mandated to curb smuggling is, in that the same people who have been tasked with stopping this illegality are making a kill by engaging in the same criminality they were mandated to stop. People from some state institutions, including government officials are involved in this activity.
It is also important to know what will happen to private millers? Won’t this measure force private millers to hold on to their commodity until such a time when government stock runs out, and they offload their mealie meal to the market at exorbitant prices?
Has the government taken this possibility into account as they come up with such desperate measures? Did they look at the future implications of this? We know that desperate situations call for desperate measures – but such measures should be accompanied with sustainable plans. Without a sustainable plan, any action, no matter how best intended, will remain impotent.
Related
By Daily Revelation Editor
Desperate situations call for desperate solutions and actions. However, solutions made under desperate circumstances end up being disastrous. This is the case in Zambia involving the government and the skyrocketing of mealie meal prices. The action taken by government to activate what could be referred to as an “emergency” response to tackle the escalating price of mealie meal could be seen as a good step on the face value, but may have disastrous implications in the medium to long term.
For the past couple of months, Zambians have been complaining of the high cost of living, especially patterning to mealie meals prices going beyond their reach – which is a very unhealthy situation indeed.
Ultimately, this situation has attracted serious criticism on the government, with those in the opposition using it as political card to decampaign Hakainde Hichilema and his government.
Arising from the criticism, the government has stepped in by involving the Zambia National Service (ZNS) to produce mealie meal which would be sold in Shoprite Chain stores at K180 per 25kg for roller meal, and K230 per 25kg for breakfast meal.
Much as this step sounds good, there are so many unanswered questions. First is the fact that a bag costing K180 is what is being described as cheap in Zambia today. We wonder how many families will manage to even raise this same K180 every after two to three weeks every month to buy the staple commodity, especially among the poorest. A staple meal should never cost in such high regions, especially when the people were promised that they would be buying the commodity for only K50.
Then, we are wondering how many Shoprite stores are there in the country. Does each township in Lusaka Province and other regions of the country have a Shoprite store? The answer is categorical No! Therefore it means that the majority millions who do not have access to some Shoprite Store nearby will continue to buy their cherished mealie meal at slightly more expensive prices than those who will be buying from Shoprite. And how about the issue of tuma queues at the same Shoprite stores? Won’t this be like the issue of coupons during the last years of the Kaunda reign when our parents and grandparents would queue up from morning to evening, sometimes even days just to access a bag of mealie meal? And won’t this also open other ‘black markets’ where people will be buying huge quantities of the commodity at around K20 less the obtaining market price from Shoprite and have to resale it at say K10 less the market price to consumers, and thereby putting further strain on the other millers in the market?
And coming back to the issue of accessibility, how will people access the same ZNS branded mealie meal? Will people from Linda in Lusaka for instance have to move from their homes to get to the nearest Shoprite located at Cosmopolitan Mall? Similarly, those from Ngómbe compound will now have to walk to Manda Hill to buying the still expensive mealie meal, despite being K20 less, from Shoprite located at Manda Hill? Maybe we shall now see a new culture in the country where it will now become customary for people to move long distances carrying bags of mealie meal on their heads and shoulders. We are wondering. Has the government secretly introduced body building exercises without announcing it to Zambians?
As for Zambians outside Lusaka, the ZNS branded mealie meal is virtually a pipe dream to access because Shoprite Stores are largely located only in provincial centres.
Secondly, there is something wrong with the UPND administration in as far as thinking about the plight of majority poor Zambians is concerned. Indeed, we agree with the adage that, “when one drinks tea with milk every day, they tend to think everyone else drinks tea with milk”.
It’s just absurd that Zambians today are buying mealie meal at over K280, even the much hyped K250 is just too much.
Even if a 25kg bag of mealie meal was reduced to K150, it would still be expensive and inaccessible to most Zambians, and would still cause majority of our people to survive on “tuma pamelas”. The same tuma pamelas the President said will become an issue of the past if he were elected President.
The President did not promise our people K280 for a 25kg bag of mealie meal; he promised them K50 for a 25kg of mealie meal and this is what is expected of him to honour if he is to win the trust of the Zambian people.
The other important question begging for honest answers is how sustainable is this “emergency” response? What measures has the government put in place to curb pilferage and smuggling of the mealie outside the country? We say this because we know how porous and corrupt the whole system mandated to curb smuggling is, in that the same people who have been tasked with stopping this illegality are making a kill by engaging in the same criminality they were mandated to stop. People from some state institutions, including government officials are involved in this activity.
It is also important to know what will happen to private millers? Won’t this measure force private millers to hold on to their commodity until such a time when government stock runs out, and they offload their mealie meal to the market at exorbitant prices?
Has the government taken this possibility into account as they come up with such desperate measures? Did they look at the future implications of this? We know that desperate situations call for desperate measures – but such measures should be accompanied with sustainable plans. Without a sustainable plan, any action, no matter how best intended, will remain impotent.
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