POLICE in Chipata have intercepted a Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) train carrying 900 metric tonnes of maize which a Zambia Co-operative Federation (ZCF) official of Kabwe allegedly attempted to smuggle into Malawi.
Eastern Province assistant commissioner of police Christopher Kanema said in an interview yesterday that police have seized 955.75 metric tonnes of maize. The maize is believed to have been procured at subsidized prices from the Food Reserve Agency(FRA).
The trucks loaded with the bags of maize were intercepted in Chipata’s railway station where there were offloading the commodity onto the Zambia Railways wagons.
The Food Reserve Agency on March 12 botched another scam where 8 people attempted to steal 10,000 kg of maize worth 30,000 Kwacha.
Meanwhile Government has instructed mealie meal traders in Choma against selling the commodity to bulk buyers.
Choma District Commissioner Sheena Muleya said the shortage that was experienced recently was as a result of the bulk buyers who re-sell the commodity at the inflated price.
A check in most retail outlets the commodity was in stock with a 25 kg bag of breakfast going for K 76 and the roller meal was K70 while in other outlets the 25 kg bag was K80, and K82.
Ms Muleya advised the retailers not to sell more than five bags of the commodity to individual buyers because some were re-selling the commodity at an inflated price.
“ We have advised mealie meal retail traders against selling the commodity in bulk because that would deprive the majority of the citizens,” she said.
She said the bulk buyers should instead buy the commodity to Choma Milling plant where the commodity was at K70 per 25 kg bag.
The DC also had a meeting with the Company management where they said the low production of the commodity was as a result of the load shedding that the district had experienced in the last few days.
She said the Milling company had continued to produce the commodity despite the electricity challenges and advised them to come up with a working plan so that it continues with the production of the commodity.
“At the moment the demand for mealie meal is high and some may try to politicise this situation I would advise Zesco and Choma Milling to find a work plan so that they should continue with the mealie meal production,” she said.
She said the Company assured government that it would continue selling the commodity to its usual wholesale traders.
The Milling Company gets the more of it maize from Kalomo.
WYNTER Kabimba says people must be careful with the choices they make on August 11 because they will end up with a government that is worse than PF. – , Kabimba cautioned Zambians against voting on impulse on August 11. “Zambians have voted in the past. Just going back to 1991, they voted out UNIP and brought in the MMD. At the end of the 20 years of the MMD, it proved to be worse than the UNIP government that they had voted out
@Hatch, who is Wynter Kabimba??? The guy who was FIRED for……..
Wynter is the architect of PF violence and he is hoping Zambians can buy his outdated and failed philosophy of socialism. Socialism can only work in heaven and not on earth.
Former USSR with all the resources (oil, diamond, gold etc) and full of properly thinking and educated white people failed to manage the affairs of their economy using socialism. You think Zambia fool of illiterates who are dribbled by semi-literates in power every day can succeed with socialism??????? He is a dreamer.
Where has PF failed if we can have such greedy people. Millers, traders and now individuals. The biggest problem in our country are the courts, lawyers and the media. you will see lawyers and courts will stand defending such pipo and the media will stop informing pipo about such case. sometimes instance justice is good. There is shortage of meal meal and then you smuggle the little we have. Its better such pipo are stoned to death
How did government maize get on a government train?
Let the investigative agencies establish which individuals or companies were attempting to smuggle so much FRA subsidized maize to Malawi. This issue must be thoroughly investigated and we don’t want any nolle prosequi here. The law must then take its course. This is tantamount to economic sabotage or treason. Whoever is found culpable in this matter must be locked up without the benefit of bail.
No one is accoutable with a PF GRZ because they are all theives. Nothing will be done. All the thives know now is the time to steal because UPND is a party of rules and accoutability you will be held accoutable if you steal.
PF, a failed govt!!!1 They have encouraged corruption to the extent that a trader from Kabwe can bribe himself all the way to Chipata. Yesterday afternoon, that maize crossed the border into Malawi after intervention from FRA. FRA said all the paper work for that export was in order. By the way, maize is crossing legally into Zimbabwe everyday. This is a failed govt. It should be voted out. It has failed its pipo.!!!!!
AND WHERE IS THE CAPTAIN WHEN ALL THESE DIRTY MAIZE SCANDALS ARE ONGOING? WHERE IS LUNGU? AS USUAL SLEEPING? LUNGU HAS NO TEETH TO BITE CORRUPTION IN THE COUNTRY BECAUSE HE IS HIMSELF A VERY BIG SUBSCRIBER, CONTRIBUTOR AND BENEFICIARY OF THIS UGLY AND COUNTER PRODUCTIVE MONSTER OF CORRUPTION. IF I WERE LUNGU, I WOULD HAVE QUICKLY SUMMONED THIS CORRUPT FRA OFFICIAL TO STATE HOUSE TO PERSONALLY ROAST THIS SELFISH INDIVIDUAL AND THEN SLAP HIM WITH AN IMMEDIATE DISMISSAL FROM DUTY SO THAT IT SERVES AS A SERIOUS WARNED EVEN TO OTHERS WHO ARE STILL PLANNING TO SMUGGLE OUR FOOD OUT OF THE COUNTRY. WAKE UP LUNGU AND STOP SLEEPING ON DUTY.
Let us put our agriculture production system in order so that we can produce enough to feed the whole Africa….Yes we can. Our economy can
Not with these PF jokers. The whole lot of them are hopeless.
Agriculture and tourisim should have cushioned us from the global economic shocks these usless PF keep blaming for everything. But instead these sectors are in decline under PF.
They have killed the agriculture industry, now they are killing initiative & innovation. Lubinda with permission from Kadansa allowed all sorts of crooked indians to export (against FRA advice) all our maize thinking it would hedge the kwacha against the dollar, now we are in a crisis instead of taking responsibility he’s pointing his chubby fingers in the wrong direction. What a waste.
The trucks loaded with the bags of maize and the Zambia Railways wagons must be confiscated as evidence and after the court case they should become government property to be auctioned off…!
Comment: why are we selling raw maize instead of first processing it to mealie-meal. This is why we have low revenue from exports, i thought PF were warned against exporting maize. This is why we have a shortage of mealie-meal, there is low stock of maize the mealing companies need to process it into mealie-meal. HH had talked about this 2 years ago on the assignment program.
Winter should not talk. What is happening in PF is his brain child, the violence the training of PF cadres was all of Winter s doing. For those of you bloggers that were too young to know the days of UNIP please listen to me, I went through it and it was communismn at it s best. MMD was a blessed relief. Kabimba will not be popular because alot of us still have fresh memories of his arrogance and undercover methods under PF;
Stop going round circles simple to sortout
1- use mukula timber formular
Get maize give it to hospitals,schools,etc vehicle/bicycle forfeit to the state in this case mo agriculture.
It wont take four arrests no one will be willing to lose his or her vehicle
Start today
EDGAR CHAGWA SUARES RONALDINHO LUNGU kuya bebele#suares must fall#
you spelt Suarez wrong
No kidding!
You worried about spelling???
Is that an April fools joke?
Yes we are because nobody is talking sense on the page so all we can do is check spellings.