By Agness Changala
Citizens First president Harry Kalaba has told Zambians to brace themselves for bigger challenges ahead, in view of the hiked fuel pump prices.
And Kalaba has challenged the Zambia National Service commander Lieutenant General Maliti Solochi to show Zambians the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which was signed, who signed it and when it was signed, indicating that Zambia would import Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) mealie meal from South Africa.
On Wednesday, the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) adjusted upwards the prices for pump prices and attributed this development to the depreciation of the kwacha.
After the upward adjustment, petrol will cost K34.19 from K29.98, diesel will cost K32.15 from K29.69 and Jet A-1 will be K32.69 from K29.26.
The price of kerosene has been maintained at K20.44 on account of sufficient national stock, according to the ERB.
Speaking to Daily Revelation on the above development, Kalaba said the increase in the pump prices of fuel was very sad, saying the government had kept on increasing the fuel prices.
“As you know, it is energy which drives an economy and surely any responsible government would want to see that it subsidises fuel so that its people can be effective and can operate at their best but not this government,” Kalaba said. “So it’s very sad, extremely sad that they keep on increasing fuel, by the time we are reaching December this year, we will be buying fuel at K100 per liter looking at the way things are moving.”
He said the UPND found fuel at about K17 per liter but today, it was K34, a situation he said was unacceptable.
“Zambians should brace themselves for big challenges ahead including your newspaper. It’s in trouble,” Kalaba said.
He has urged Zambians to wait for his political party to form a government, saying President Hakainde Hichilema and his team have failed.
“My message to Zambians is that they should wait for us to come in 2026 because Mr. Hakainde Hichilema and his team do not have an idea on how to run governance. They talk too much and they act less,” Kala said. “We want people who can correspond their talking to actions and we have been telling them how they can go about it.”
He wondered why the government reduced mineral royalty tax and lost revenue which should have been used to subsidise fuel.
Kalaba said the government was now stuck because it had no money to subsidise the commodity.
“Why should you reduce your mineral royalty tax from six percent to three percent and you lose that revenue which you are using to subsidise?” Kalaba asked. “Now as a result of that, the prices are going up and they don’t have money to subsidise the commodity.”
He said “when his party forms government”, they will recapitalise Indeni so that it becomes a refinery and create more of similar structures across the country to ensure adequate stocks to last for a year.
“When we come into government, we will ensure that we also bring in our own …, we recapitalise Indeni so that it becomes a refinery but we just don’t have one Indeni, we need to have several Indenis across the country,” he said. In Nakonde we need one, we need to have another refinery in Mpika and we need another one in Kapiri Mposhi and the Ndola one. If you have four refineries in the country, then you can keep your fuel for some time. Because right now it is hand to mouth.”
Kalaba said what was pumped through Tazama was going straight into consumption saying the country needed to keep it for period of at least one year.
“Minimum of a year so that you can manage these pump prices, they will not increase just like that because our fuel price, you will have something in stock,” said
And Kalaba asked why Zambia should import mealie meal for Congo when it had its own functioning government.
“Why should Zambia import for Congo? Congo can import for themselves if they want Genetically Modified Organisms maize. Congo is richer than Zambia by far in terms of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) even per capita income. Congo is doing far much better than ourselves,” Kalaba said. Why should Zambia take it upon themselves to begin importing for another country because Zambia’s problems are in Zambia?”
He said the government was lying and they think they are talking to children.
“When you hear these lies, they think like they are talking to young people or young children. That mealie meal is for Zambia. They are bringing it here because Mr. Hakainde Hichilema allowed an export permit of maize which he shouldn’t have allowed,” he said.
Kalaba said President Hichilema did not do a thorough assessment of what was happening at the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) because of not knowing how to govern.
“Learning job on training. He should have waited first to be given a thorough report. But he chased Mr Chola Kafwabulula even before … That is not the way you run government, you need institutional memory in those strategic institutions like the FRA,” Kalaba said. “But he didn’t do that, he said we should run maize like a business. That’s what he said, now he is bringing in GMO he sees the reaction, then they go on TV and tell you we are importing for Congo. How can you import for Congo when Congo has got its own government which is functioning.”
He was puzzled with the importation.
“Because they realise that they are stuck and they are never truthful and they don’t care about the citizens and that is why they can feed them on GMO and the ramifications of giving GMO maize to citizens,” Kalaba said.
He asked where the Memorandum of Understanding between Zambia and Congo for Zambia to supply mealie meal to that country was.
“Let him show us the MoU and who signed the MoU and who signed it and when it was signed,” said Kalaba.
