Importation of GMO mealie meal

By Daily Revelation Editor.

“Our people here appreciate the efforts which we made to ensure that we brought relief food to our people. Now it was natural that we had to find food to our people and ensure that not a single person dies. The famine was severe and we were offered as a country GMO maize. We refused to accept GMO maize because we were not certain as to the safety of this type of food. So we said our people will not be fed on GMO maize. At that time there were a lot of countries including the United Kingdom and USA who said 2.9 million of the Zambians are going to starve to death because they have refused to accept GMO maize. Not a single Zambian died from starvation and to me and to my administration this is indeed the pride. We have in the process gained international respect at the fact that we were and are a sovereign state,” said late president Levy Mwanawasa with pride when he boasted about rejecting GMO food for the safety of the people he led.

Any leader worth their salt prioritises the health and interests of the people they were elected to serve. We were of the understanding that every leader that would assume office would draw on the precedence set by Levy on this matter and that at no point shall the nation regress to start debating about this harmful product on the health and environment of this country.

Alas that debate is back again. We demand that the UPND administration must come clean and state clearly to the Zambian people the raging debate that they have permitted for the importation of GMO maize to Eagles Holding Milling Company Ltd to import 226 Mt from South Africa.

In addition to that the administration must come clean if such consignments started way back and that people are just getting to know about them now.

The administration cannot spin and try to wish away this matter. They must come out and state categorically who the GMO food is meant for. Of course the government has previously indicated that the Zambia National Service was importing maize from South Africa but that it was meant for the Congolese market. However, it was not mentioned to Zambians whether the mealie meal in question was GMO or not. And how are Zambians to know that the mealie-meal they are consuming is not GMO? What scientific explanation will be given to Zambians to ensure that the mealie-meal they are consuming is safe for their health, that it is the organic mealie-meal they have been used to feeding their entire life?

Such questions cannot just be wished away. Zambians deserve and demand concrete assurances on this matter.

Yes, we know that the price of mealie-meal is high, beyond the ability of many to afford, and the true extent of the stock reserves is questionable. But if asked to choose, any Zambian will choose the well-being of their health status first.