The Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) have warned about an increase in mealie meal prices. This has been attributed to rising production costs and reduced quantities of the maize grain on the market. It is strange that we have a maize shortage on the market after Given Lubinda assured us that we have enough maize. But we cautioned Lubinda at the time. The first mistake was that PF offered farmers 75 kwacha per bag that is,1500 kwacha a ton or US$120 at the current exchange rate. What the PF did not realise as they ignored us yet again was that the informal traders had found a market which was offering them US$200/ton. This let to massive exports by both formal and informal means. These are things we brought to the attention of the Minister but he ignored us.
This price increase comes at a time when ZESCO is also proposing an increase on electricity tariffs. This will further increase production costs in addition to costs attributed to on-going massive electricity load shedding.
We have been advising the PF leaders for sometime now that they need to stop maize exports and first check the national consumption levels. The food national balance sheet looks good on paper, but there is no maize on the ground. They keep asking for alternative policies which we have been giving them regularly but they just ignore everything we say and later blame nature and God for the calamities that have befallen the country. Nature and calamities will always be there, that is why people build houses that insulate themselves from nature. The same applies to a country, what if we do not have rainfall this year, what will happen?
We really wonder how the majority Zambians will now survive with the ever raising cost of living coming at time when the mines are laying off workers, industries are closing; many are losing jobs and yet there is no action from those in leadership to address the situation.
On mealie meal, we have always advised on the need for those in Government to improve production methods to improve productivity so that maize becomes cheaper to produce. We have largely been ignored. We have proposed value addition to our maize grain so as to create more jobs locally and get other commodities such as animal feedstock; our advice has been ignored.
Many of the problems being faced currently are our own creation and nothing to do with the so-called global issues. PF must just own up and come clean that they have failed to govern so that they can step aside and let those that are serious take over the reins of the country.
Hakainde Hichilema
UPND President
___________________________
Issued by: UPND National Campaign Centre, Lusaka
KACHEMA, YOU’VE STOLEN FROM US ALREADY. GO AND RULE YOUR TRIBESMEN. WHERE WERE YOU WHEN OUR COMPANY’S WERE SOLD FOR A SONG? YOU’VE BECOME “RICH” BECAUSE OF STOLEN MONEY FROM PRIVATISATION. WHAT WILL HAPPEWN TO ZAMBIA IF BY CHANCE YOU BECAME Z PRESIDO? GO AWAY YOU THIEF. YOU’VE DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE THE ZAMBIAN ECONOMY.
Cry baby cry. The porridge is not yet ready
@DIE HARD UNDER 5 SUPPORTER: even if you are eating under PF, please learn to contribute real issues on the Ground. Cry Baby for HH? Dont worry, we are in October soon will be in 2016?? Only then will we know who is a baby or a dull useless Pathetic Father (PF) who have made his children go backward on Economic development.
HH is right PF does not think when they do things??
Where are those solar-powered milling machines bought from china? We thought was to deal with mealie meal problems?
HH is right, this govt does not listen yet quick to say opposition does not offer solutions. HH has been talking about this maize mess from April.
Please don’t ever waste your time , this government has failed . I don’t support any party or voted before but if who vote for this corrupt , dull and bandits . The have made history with the Kwacha and load shedding .
PF will run down this economy if they do not change their ways of doing business. Mr President, EL, please cut govt expenditure. Reduce the number of ministries, number of PS establishment, remove the fuel allowance (abnormal for that matter) from your ministers, cut the number of vehicles per senior govt official, reduce your travel outside the country and suspend some of the projects till the economic situation is stabilized. The issue with the projects is that our the proceeds are externalized as the firms running these projects are foreign based.
Hello HH,
I would like to advise you not to attend the so called day of national prayers for the following reasons:
-it is for their political expediency
-they borrowed massively in the name of carrying out road infrastructure rebuilding but over 50% of the funds ended up in private pockets either as kick-backs or throu over-invoicing & throu controlling RDA with late Nsanda from State House,
-induced several by-elections where Winter Kabimba continued bragging that they were budgeted for;-they employed cadres at ZESCO, Zamtel, etc and still expect these companies to perform
-now that their wrong economic decisions have back-fired, have produced sour results, they want us to pray and fast! We are already fasting as the majority of us can not afford 3 meals p/day. This is taking…
SHETANIST
For Sure HH advised the government, what did they do and say? We remember what the government’s response was. Then someone will the opposition does not offer solutions! The someone will come and say they are just Bitter! We need to be reason and demand as citizens that’s when our country will develop!
HH please what solutions have you offered which the people haven’t seen? The truth here is this, there is just a cartel bent on making everything seem bad on part of Government. FRA has and is still buying maize from farmers and the issue of shortage of maize is NOT TRUE, if anything the maize we are consuming is from the 2014 farming season, what’s HH talking about?
Just imagine today what the price of cement from Larfarge could have been had it not been the prudent policies of the PF Government to bring in Dangote?
HH may have done some economics years back, but we can read between the line, all what this man thinks about is to be in State House and nothing else, but sorry we will never allow it because God has already opened our eyes. HH is a deceiver and just a bitter man for no…
Where is the cartel, it is the govt’s responsibility to address market failures, which are inherent in open market economies. If your govt is failing to identify the cartel causing this market failure, then they are not fit to govern period.
Mr. Hichilema, I have to let you know that the President is unable to read your suggestions at the moment as he is currently suffering from a $300,000 hangover.
If he wakes up at some time tonight, I will try to pass your message on to him. However, there is no guarantee that it will be read due to the fact that load-shedding by all his friends at ZESCO has left the Nation in darkness.
This is is not his fault, but entirely due to God forgetting to make it rain, and our great President is urgently addressing the issue. He has rebuked the Creator severely for this mistake, and pointed out that if he has not made any mistakes it is very unpatriotic for God to make some.
He recently assured me that his recent discussions with God have resulted in a promise to supply enough…
KIKIKIKIKIKIKI HEHEHEHE YOU V MADE MY DAY. I HAVE HAD SUCH A GOOD LAUGH
Cont….
This is is not his fault, but entirely due to God forgetting to make it rain, and our great President is urgently addressing the issue. He has rebuked the Creator severely for this mistake, and pointed out that if he has not made any mistakes it is very unpatriotic for God to make some.
He recently assured me that his recent discussions with God have resulted in a promise to supply enough Sunshine for all the solar powered Mlls he has bought at great National expense.
He is also awaiting delivery of the 500,000 jobs he ordered, and the re-valuation of the Kwacha to 1-1 to the Dollar.
So Mr. Hichilema, you can relax.Everything is under control!
It is often said that a country gets they type of leadership it deserves and that the type of leadership a country has is the reflection or mirror of its people. Some comments on this site are proving these statements to be true. HH clearly advised the government on the Maize issue lets give credit were its due even if you don’t support him or his party. He clearly stated that what the government is doing will cause price increases in the very near future and explained why and has repeated it again in this statement. I think we the people should bare the blame with what is going on in this country. We have seen the capacity of our current leadership and where it can take us.
This man must be sic in the head
Uyu HH ni chimbwi maningi, every time he sees an opportunity at we told them, are these not just lies? More over his deputy was buying maize at K50 a bag and government was much better to buy at Key.
UPND is always unrealistic and i stopped supporting them because they seem not to have alternatives to what PF is doing.All they dream of is to take over power at any cost which is wrong.A real opposition party was supposed to offer constructive criticism not this aimless yapping we are seeing.
“…..PF must just own up and come clean that they have failed to govern so that they can step aside and let those that are serious take over the reins of the country.
Hakainde Hichilema
UPND President…”
If required, but certainly not UPND under its current leadership which just looks at Plot 1 as its ultimate objective, and not the people of Zambia.
Now I understand why ECL does not take any meaningful action.
He achieved his dream of residence at plot no. 1 and thus accomplished his dream.
Now what?
Prayers and fasting for masses whilst our “humble” and “visionary” leadership feasting and laughing at the hunger and misery of the people.
Guy Scot is the one to blame! He is the one that allowed this drunkard Lungu to “panga win” the PF National conference and now that Jameson Lungu is safely in State House he thinks he has done his job already and there is nothing else left to do except be a global tourist at taxpayers expense and read speeches occasionally!
Lungu is correct that he is in control and he has not made any mistakes. FOR HIMSELF! But as far as the Nation is concerned he thinks he has just inherited a personal fortune and seems to be determined to spend it ALL before he leaves State House. Ordinary Zambians can starve for all he cares just as long as they have children that will have to pay off the EUROBOND KALOBA for the next 50 years!
@ Terrible on HH: The only challenge most of us black Zambians have is that most us have not travelled outside the country to any of the developed countries and most of us have low or no aspirations at all. As such we are content with nothing. This is where the source of our poverty is. Can you imagine: calling for national prayers just because the Kwacha is badly performing! Did German call for national prayers after both world wars when their currency became useless? We needed a wheelbarrow full of currency for just one loaf of bread. They instead used their heads and corrected the mess. A black man wants prayers. He wants to petition God to correct God’s own mistake. Has God ever made mistakes? A black is not suitable to govern himself. Only fit to work for others.
Fellow Zambians, hunger knows no political affiliation. Granted some of you are too young to have experienced the economic melt down of 1987/88. This is exactly where we are and the reason is simple. I said early this year that PF is a chimeric party synthesized from UNIP and MMD. Their policies exactly mirror those of UNIP who borrowed in unbridled fashion and landed us into meal coupons, massive job losses, SAP (if you know what I mean) and HIPC. MMD tried to turn things around under Levy P. Mwanawasa but PF came and took us back to UNIP and Chiluba’s MMD characterized by kleptocracy and shamocracy. The results are: ubunga K90, amafuta for cooking 2.5 liters, K60 etc and you guys here have the guts to defend the indefensible! Lord have mercy!
Surely, do you need to be advised that it is not right to spend US$300,000 public money of a poor country where about 45% of under five children are stunted. The same trip could have been made at a much much lower cost. HH has on several times advised PF to reduce govt expenditure. Any sensible person can see that the advice was timely but as usual fail on deaf ears. What about HH’s advice on SI 33 and 55? Also fail on deaf ears!
MINYELO ZANU BA PATHETIC FOOLS(PF). DO YOU USE YOUR ANUSES TO THINK OR WHAT? EVERRYTHING COMING FROM A PF CADRE IS TRUSH. ARE THESE *****S CURSED? GOD PLEASE LET THESE *****S BURN IN HELL. I THINK HELL IS THE PLACE
MINYELO ZANU BA PATHETIC FOOLS(PF). DO YOU USE YOUR ANUSES TO THINK OR WHAT? EVERRYTHING COMING FROM A PF CADRE IS TRUSH. ARE THESE *****S CURSED? GOD PLEASE LET THESE *****S BURN IN HELL. I THINK HELL IS THE PLACE the place they belong to
Can it be too much if we said that HH isn’t fit to run not even a club? In the clear circumstances like this where a cartel headed by GBM and some millers want to punish innocent Zambians and put the blame on President Lungu and PF Government, couldn’t someone aspiring for presidency offer a solution like this?
1. Encourage every household to purchase raw maize during the buying season from farmers just like FRA does and store this for processing into mealie meal at Chigayos?
2. Mealie meal should not be expensive whatsoever because form one (x1) 50 kg bag bought at K70 or K75, a family of six (on average) can buy ten (x10) 50kg bags of maize and process twenty (x20) 25kg bags of either breakfast or roller meal.
3. All one needs to do is to send a garden boy to go buy this maize,…
contd
3. All one needs to do is to send a garden boy to go buy this maize, keep it safely at home and only process it into mealie meal as and when needed cut out the exploitative millers!
4. The TOTAL COST of TWO bags (x2) by 25kg breakfast or roller meal in a month will then only be K75 in a month.
So where is the puzzle here? It implies K35 a 25kg bag of mealie meal, simple! Heed my advise. TRY IT, IT WORKS!! HH, this is a practical solution and NOT your bitterness, it wont win you any election bwana.
@Tatulumbila Umwenso iyo. Why hasn’t ECL & the PF offered these solutions, since they are the ones in power?
POLITICIANS ARE HUMAN AND ARE THEMSELVES NOT PERFECT. HOWEVER ATLEAST HH TELLS US THE TRUTH. LIKE IT OR NOT AGREE WITH HIM OR NOT. INFACT AT THIS POINT WHETHER WE VOTE FOR HIM OR NOT IT DOESN’T MATTER ANY MORE THE DAMAGE TO ZAMBIA HAS BEEN DONE. AT LEEAST HH TELLS THE TRUTH AND KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT. UNLIKE THE GOVERNMENT WE HAVE NOW. TOTALLY USELESS GOVERNMENT!
These are the same people that are stubbing you in the back Zambians. Chikomekome cha nkhuyu mukati muli nyelele. they speak so nicely but what they do in the dark is exactly the opposite. STATE HOUSE is their destiny no matter what.
P.F is Rubbish,full stop!
Enjoy the satanists advise