PRESIDENT Lungu says Government could be forced to intervene to make mealie-meal affordable in regions where people are being exploited.
President Lungu is disappointed by the high cost of mealie-meal in Mkushi despite it being a high maize producing area.
“I want to know why here in Mkushi the price of mealie-meal is so high,” President Lungu said during a public rally at Mkushi grounds yesterday.
He said the high prices of mealie-meal in Mkushi amount to economic sabotage and that his Government will be forced to intervene so that people can access affordable mealie-meal.
“If I intervene those who are talking about the free market should not complain because they have started this. We are doing our best and our best is to be close to the people and ensure that they access basic food cheaply, and basic food is mealie-meal,” Mr Lunga said to a cheering gathering.
And at a meeting with teachers the President said business houses must reduce prices of goods in view of the Kwacha rebounding.
He urged technocrats and PF members to help explain the prevailing economic fundamentals to the people in the wake of the recovering Kwacha.
Mr Lungu said it is unfortunate that some sections of society that were very critical have kept quiet about the appreciation of the local currency.
Meanwhile, President Lungu has asked Minister of Local Government and Housing Stephen Kampyongo and the Road Development Agency (RDA) to investigate what has caused the delay in constructing township roads in Mkushi.
Mr Lungu said people are looking forward to having better roads but Keren Motors Limited has delayed the project and in two years the contractor has only tarred three kilometres out of 20.2 kilometres.
And speaking to journalists before his return to Lusaka, President Lungu said Government will consider ways of effectively engaging the Zambia National Service (ZNS) to help boost the agriculture sector as the mainstay of the economy.
He said there is need to engage ZNS in the drive as serious large-scale farming is demanding, requiring concerted efforts.
“We are going to sit in the defence council meeting and see what we can do. They (ZNS) will have to do the roads, open up some areas, clear land to facilitate the installation of electricity in certain areas. Serious large-scale farming requires electricity, and that is why we also want to explore solar energy,” he said.
President Lungu also urged government leaders to visit their constituencies and inspect developmental projects under construction.
He said MPs should “take a leaf” from him and visit construction works.
Mr Lungu said failure to do so has resulted in some contractors doing shoddy works and swindling Government out of colossal sums of money.
wow!! !finnally he sees it!! he is disapponted with himself,,,it about time you came back home Eddie
A President disappointed!? That means you are disappointed with yourself sir! Who is going to do something about it, if the president himself can only be disappointed and yet do nothing about it!!!? That’s why politicians fail to deliver in our country because they think their duty is to identify the evils and wait for “someone”, that someone none of us knows, to rectify the evil! O my! God have mercy! You do not control prices by decree and command, reduce the cost of doing business period! Get to work man, 2016 is only a few days away!!! Haleisa Haleisa!!!
WHEN A BIG ELEPHANT PASSES THRU A VILLAGE, SMALL DOGS ONLY BARK, BUT CANNOT DO ANYTHING FURTHER. THE STRONG WIND OF CHANGE IS SWEEPING ACROSS ZAMBIA. IT IS HH AND UPND THIS TIME AROUND. LUNGU AND PF, KUYEBEEBELE. NO AMOUNT OF APPEASEMENT BY LUNGU CAN MAKE US ACT FOOLISHLY BY BELIEVING HIS RANTINGS. LUNGU AND HIS MINIONS ARE LOOTERS. THEY HAVE DESTROYED OUR BEAUTIFUL NATION IN BARELY ONE YEAR. IMAGINE THE HUGE DEBT THAT ZAMBIA HAS ACCRUED AT THE CARELESS HANDS OF EDGAR LUNGU. KICK THIS GUY OUT OF STATE HOUSE AND BACK TO CHAWAMA COMPOUND. LUNGU IS A SERIOUS LIABILITY TO ZAMBIA.
Back to the style of management of the country by UNIP and its Government. This how the economy under the UNIP Government started its down fall which ended up with the kicking out of KK from power. Please learn from history.
Chaimani,
You’ve got it right. UNIP is ruling, because in UNIP whenever faced with any challenge the answer would be borrowing! Just like the PF . Consequently vibrant company like Dunlop, Livingstone motor assemble, Mining companies etc were sold at a give away price in order to repay the loans. Not very long ago some towns like Kabwe and other copper-belt towns become Ghost towns because of borrowing. At the rate we are going , be prepared for a worse situation than the previous one especially if wisdom is not applied during the 2016 polls. Please learn from history.
On one hand Mr President just on Friday you said no subsidize on food and power and you instructed ERB to give us market rates not subsidized rates. ERB yesterday did as instructed and hiked the tariffs on power soon fuel will increase. Now with all this, do you think the millers will be happy to reduce the price of mealie Meal?
Under free market economy it is advised to flood the market with the commodity, that way the increased supply will make the price low as demand will have choice to by from supplier A, B, C, D etc.
I also advise that we start to promote other foods locally available instead of depending on nshima everyday. there is a loot of alternative to mealie meal in Zambia problem from birth we are made to believe nshima is the best.
Flooding market example is here in Western Australia Mr President. There is a Potato board here Mr President. It was set up to monitor potato farmers by limiting the number of potatos (tonnes) per farmer per year, because farmers used to over supply the market whereby the price was becoming small. As a result small farmers would not make good profit.
But the case in Zambia should give a small scale farmer more boost to even grow more maize next season. So my advise Mr President (i know you will read my comment as you are always on lusaka times) leave the market alone. It will solve itself in the long run. Solution just encourage farming if possible allow importation of the commodity from cheaper sources
OK on the other hand, I can say in Zambia there is too much colluding by millers. maybe that is why price is too high.
Ubwali is the best for me no food beats that. Some good ideas you have
Nebo, yes I have alternative and that is what I usually do here in Australia.
1) chicken with sweet potato. cook chicken & vegies as they’re cooked normally. peel the sweet potatoes and boil as normal. serve together and eat. in this case sweet potato is an alternative. you can also use pumpkin, list is endless.
2) Dry fish, rape/carbage cook them normal and eat them with pumpkin or sweet potato or even the irish potato. I use sweet potato because it is very common in Zed. sweet potato also can be prepared with ground nuts. We have a lot of beautiful food in Zambia. list is endless, you just hav to make your food nice. nowadays when people eat rice, ati tatwikwite, I eat nshima here but 2 times weekly and honestly my alternative is such simple things.
I am also in Aus but I eat akabwali everyday. I have eaten other alternatives in Zed and others from different countries but ubwali tops them all. The only alternative is amataba but they are seasonal. To me people need to go back to the olden way of processing maize into ubunga unlike relying on millers which is too expensive for most. Ubwali is like the way pasta is to Italians or noodles or rice to Asians etc to keep it cheap.
The price of miliemil is not just high in mkushi but in all areas that are far from the line of rail..! Transport costs and high demand of the commodity are some of the factors the millers and retailers are giving for the high prices. In shangombo, a 25kg bag of roller meal is going at k120..! Plz do something coz this is decompagning pf…!
Where is the mealie meal for 45 kwacha you said would be on the market in 2 weeks when you visited CB from.29 Oct to 2 Nov? Ba president ubufi bula bwela. I am sorry for saying this to an older person to me (he is 59 iam 42) but when you say certain things, please make sure you double check what you’re saying is correct. There is no way mealie meal can be less than 50kwacha under the current economic volatility unless you take the eurobond there
Comment: Transport cost. Has fuel been increased? Why are bus fares still the same?
Playing to the gallery..tel them what they want to hear and you will score points..Zambian politics are never short of commedy.The president said and i quote “I will not allow Mopani to retrench 4,000 workers, because when copper prices are okay,Mopani does not increase salaries for Zambian workers”…and 2 weeks later,he comes back to say and i quote “We have reached a point where we should be honest enough to say ‘probably some jobs may have to go’. There is consensus on the issue that some jobs have to go..” 4000 + employees lost there jobs.Over 10,000 families affected.
but zesco tariffs have been increased even after promising Zambians in February this year that there will be no tariff increment for two years. I think this should be more disappointing to HE Lungu than mealie meal because it is against his words.
Kwacha has appreciated; wow! That is why it is better to deal in USDs; to feel the impact of the prices every minute the kwacha plays positively. Otherwise, how do shops start reducing prices, without assurance that the kwacha is there to stay, and besides, they bought the goods at higher dollar?
Lungu uluse, he is not fit to be president!!!
Reactive approach to issues as usual. millers do not have a problem as they are in busines to make a profit.your government has reduced FRA reserve quantities by half of what the MMD government was stocking. now how are you going to convince millers when you don’t have the grain to supply them.they bought their own maize at prices known by themselfs. Controlling prices will just make products scarce on the market and we will go back to UNIP days of queueing up for products. work on the source of the problem and not wast time to convince people that the problem is global.
lungu must resign he is useless
The cost production is whats making the prices of the staple food high.Ferts energy transportation and labour to mention a few.As for ZNS watch those people not to abuse our machinery.Otherwise intention is very good and should be encouraged.
Mr Lungu its not about producing maize but the cost of producing that maize that leads to high mealie meal prices.
The high cost of PF rule is a major factor.
Lungu is the embodiment of incompetence… there seems to be no logic to most of the things he does or say. This man has really lost me. He talks expanding electrification when the industries are dying because there is not enough electricity to go round…
Firstly can these guys give us proper pictures not these made up pictures we know that he was badly received . Can some one teach our President a bit of cost accounting for him to understand what makes prices to go up. Already the electricity has been increased so expect mealie meal to even go up again and everything will go up wait and see
Please help him before he embarrasses himself by making useless statements
What a clueless idi.ot!
Does he not even know that comments like this are exactly the thing that makes prices go up?
And what “appreciation” of the Kwacha is he talking about?
The Kwacha was K5 to the Dollar when PF took over Government. What is it now?
Too much JAMESONI and too much travelling have confused this F00LS brain.
Can anyone defend the President on his promise not to increase zesco tariffs for two years.
What myopic leadership how do you ask RDA to investigate delay in construction of a tender the issued…when the record is there…surely what do want them to show you? Silly politicking…This lazy bum has now increased on domestic travel !!
Had he not travelled. ..?
Its really out of control but i wud suggest that meallers write the price on the bags like its done on talktime.the wholesale price will be at the source. In solwezi work culture is bad eg a gotv cashier at post office just left people in a line like begger and yet they paying so that he can be paid.this senarior is everywhere zesco ,police,hospital,council,agriculture,verterinary,filling stations,intelligence,immigration,ratsa,etc qustion is why? Ecl press the batton to activate issues.
The man never ceases to amaze me. The same threats and policies that brought down KK is what he is preaching. Who says history does not repeat itself!!!!. Try it Mr. President I guarantee you that the results will be the same. You will be chased like Kaunda. Just put in the right policies – stabilise the Kwacha, reduce government spending including your cabinet etc. The solutions are there you just don’t want to do what is right because of politics and a desire to please your cadres and the kaponyas.
What a leader, Is this all that Zambia has. No wonder he could`nt run his law firm and then we thought he could run a country, what a big mistake we made and we will live to regret this for ever and ever, amen.
Karen Motors constructing roads???
Ayi sure? l though LT wanted to say Keren Construction not until I remembered we had Sable Transport also making roads.
Next it will be kambwili barbershop supplying vehicles to the government.
No need for anyone to speak ill of the country abroad or within.
He goes to CB and assured miners that their companies will not close but they close.. NOW in serenje getting shocked that m/meal prices are high? We are all shocked that the president is shocked. 2016 PF out
HH TRIES TO TOUR ZAMBIA HE IS BUNDLED LIKE A CRIMINAL OF WHICH BAND NEVER DID TO SATA.MAY GOD HELP HH SO THAT THE ECONOMY CAN IMPROVE.WITH PF DUNDERHEADS HAVE A FIELD DAY
Welcome to 2015 Your Excellency. Prices are determined by supply and demand. Your government has created an economic climate where the inputs for production for mealie meal are so high, suppliers have to charge higher amounts to cover their costs and still make a profit. No one is exploiting the poor Zambia consumers. The bad news is your government IS the problem, but the good news is that you are in charge and can fix the problem.
“There will be no electricity tariff increment for the next two years”! This was said by the drunkard in May this year 2015. ” I will make sure that no miner loses his job, we are saving your jobs so don’t worry”! The drunkard said this in September this year! What has happened after these pronouncements! This visionless idi0t is again lying to you! Open your eyes! He knows very well that Zambians are gullible and they will believe! What a people! Only in Zambia!
Lungu Azinyela yeka
MWAZIONA ALUNGU! MWAONA LELO!!
P..F, will not be in power 2016, unless You rig the election big time.
Even K.K. failed to dupe the electorate, once mealie meal- (Bunga) became scarce, & an “expensive rare as a diamond” commodity.
“Disappointed?” Has he been asleep and for how long? What a president! How pernicious!
All of a sudden it’s Zambia once more; the very country Kaunda and Chiluba left behind – a country going down the drain in broad day-light!
This is all because you have usless ministers like mwanakatwe who only seems to be attending comferences and not addressing the high cost of doing everything. That is the problem of appointing caders, and individuals based on a surname. Again non accountability in this PF gov comes into play, in normal countries the ministry responsible would be held accoutable.. Just blame China, Elnino , the region, HH, global economy.
Sorry to digress, but what is the population of Sinda town in Eastern Province? Just read in the Times of Zambia that this year alone, more than 2,000 school girls have become pregnant.
No one can get surprised of his house to say is this how it look like! this is what Lungu is doing. The man should not be surprised of the high coast of milie meal, is he the president of cameroon who doesnt know what is going on here in Zambia? This problem is country wide, he knows Aleepapa fye ubufi.