Milupi’s argument on complaints against high m-meal prices

By Daily Revelation Editor 

Infrastructure and Housing minister Charles Milupi has said that the only people complaining about high mealie-meal prices are the unemployed in towns because no one who is employed can complain about buying a 25kg bag of mealie-meal at K400.

In an interview with Daily Revelation last week, Milupi argued that the unemployed were complaining as they were unable to raise enough money to buy the mealie-meal, whose price had gone up on account of the scaled up maize prices so that farmers could also benefit from their produce.

“If someone is employed, he will not complain about K400, if you are getting K10,000,” said Milupi.

Quite alright, Milupi said the UPND administration was trying to create employment so that many could not complain about having to buy the 25kg mealie-meal bag at K400.

However, we are not just sure how Milupi and those he’s serving with in government will manage the herculian task of getting the many millions who are roaming the streets with decent jobs that will enable them to get K10,000 per month. Besides that, there are many out there, including those who are getting the same 10,000 per month, but are still complaining about the steep prices for the staple commodity as they also have other competing demands to meet from that same figure, in this economy of high inflation, high fuel prices, weakened Kwacha, and generally high cost of living. And even talking about the same K10,000, we can safely say that the majority of those employed get far much less than the figure Milupi mentioned. But since they are employed, are we also going to go by Milupi’s argument that they are not complaining about having to spend K400 to buy mealie-meal, or even the cheaper – but very scarce – Eagles mealie-meal at K230?

What Milupi and his colleagues in government must place their efforts on is reduce the very high cost of living in the country as it is affecting both the rich and poor alike, much more the poor ofcourse. Even the surplus income the well-to-do would draw from to extend help towards the poor is being sucked up in the high cost of living.

Key fundamentals will definitely need to be looked into therefore, to reverse the trend, and these should include addressing the weak Kwacha, the high fuel prices, inflation, increased food production, among many others.

The reduction in the prices of fuel for the month of May, 2025 for instance, is very commendable, but the reductions will need to be sustained over a longer period to have a telling effect on the economy. The seesaw shifts, where today the price is adjusted downwards and the following month adjusted upwards again is unsustainable, and only adds further uncertainty in the economy. For instance, the Consumer Rights Association of Zambia is saying the organisation was cautious about adjusting bus fares based on a single fuel price drop.

The late famous musician ‘Professor’ PK Chisala once summarised the struggles Zambians were going through at the time, which speaks to the struggles of today in his popular ‘Common Man’ song, where he pleaded that people wanted to eat well, but were failing because the cost of food was very high, and that even for those who were working, the money was not enough to cater for their needs. He pleaded that the government could increase prices of all the other things, except the price of mealie-meal for the sake of the poor.

He complained that people were not getting full as they had to ration the mealie-meal on account of the commodity’s high price.