Friday, March 29, 2024

Claims by opposition that Zambia is importing the maize are malicious lies -Lubinda

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Given Lubinda
Given Lubinda

Agriculture Minister Given Lubinda has described as malicious lies claims by opposition leaders purporting that the country is importing the maize it exported a few months ago at more than double the price.

And Mr Lubinda has maintained that the mealie meal shortages being experienced in the is due artificial.

Mr Lubinda who claimed that the escalating prices of the commodity was being fueled by lies from opposition leaders.

He said it was disheartening to note that a person aspiring to be a President of the country can lie with a straight face on international media in reference to Mr Hichilema’s statement issued to the BBC that the country was importing its own maize at more than double the price it exported.

He said there is no one who has imported maize into the country and that if anyone has evidence showing that they imported the commodity he was challenging them to produce the evidence so that he can sale his assets and refund them from his money.

He said such leaders should not be allowed to be anywhere near the helm of the country adding that such a leader does not even deserve to be a councillor.

He said it was unfortunate that leaders are trying to incite people to raise against the government by comparing the current escalating commodity prices to that of 1990 and that the statements were irresponsible as the country has enough stocks.

He challenged opposition party leaders to accompany him and visit the maize sheds to prove that maize is not in short supply.

Asked if the PF were being myopic by not accepting that there was crisis in the country as people have documented evidence of the mealie meal shortages Mr Lubinda said it was not his government but the people who were being myopic because government has tried its level best to avert the crisis.

He advised the opposition to stop creating chaos in the country for the same of wining an election adding that the country should go into the election to choose honorable leaders and not cheats who would say anything to win an election.

Meanwhile the Minister said the country has enough grain to feed it’s citizens and that the mealie meal shortages was due to unscrupulous people who are either holding on to the grain with the hope of the crisis being predicted by people he described as prophets of doom can come to pass or smuggling out of the the country.

He said government has been releasing enough maize to the millers to feed the nation but that some people were creating the shortage by smuggling and holding.

He further warned transport companies allowing their trucks to transport maize meant for smuggling to desist from doing business with such individuals as they will only end up losing their vehicles to the state once they are caught.

Mr Lubinda also defended the solar milling plants saying they have managed to reduce prices of the commodity in all the places they have been installed so far.

He said government has released enough maize to all the solar milling plants to ensure that they produce affordable mealie meal for the people in surrounding areas.

21 COMMENTS

  1. ..aah, this guy is still Agriculture minister..??…has Edgar reshuffled or fired anyone since he appointed his cabinet…??…that speaks volumes…

    • HH is telling lies about everything. He lies that there is no mealie-meal in Zambia when mealie-meal is plenty and very cheap everywhere; He lies that there is no oxygen at UTH; he lies that the economy is bad and people are hungry when people are throwing food away every day and the government is therefore exporting maize to Zimbabwe; he lies that there is bad governance when the PF government is very efficient and effective in service delivery; he lies that there is load-shedding in the country because he is blind and can’t see the lights everywhere; he lies that fuel is expensive when it is the cheapest in the region; he lies that PF cadres are violent when they don’t attack anyone anywhere; he lies that the POA is bad when actually the police are using it very well and giving every…

    • he lies that the POA is bad when actually the police are using it very well and giving every citizen the freedoms they are entitled to in the constitution; he lies that students need their meal allowance when actually it has been government pleading with students to take up their allowances as students are saying their parents can afford to sponsor them; HH lies, and lies everywhere and on everything

  2. HH is hungry for power but he will never have it.he will lie until no more and people have stopped trusting this bastard son of a living bitch. i hate this tonga id1ot. my goodness me this f@cker upsets the hell out of me together with his great bag of maize (GBM) the only bemba id1ot.

  3. Lubinda now this is childish. Just put mealie meal on shelves & the whole thing will go away. Why daring people to produce “foolish” evidence. Even the assets you claim to have are all stolen from the same people. Its over a month ago that HH talked to BBC & the people queuing for mealie meal in Chingola never even head about it. Do your work Zayelo & stop moaning like a little puppy on her first night out.

  4. The English and spellings I see from the bloggers on this fora… how did you guys manage to get your full grade 12 certificates?

    Mwaliteta is better than most you…. Viva pa Bwato, sela tubombeko!!

    HH the cretin

    • @kopala….
      ….read thru your last sentence and see if it makes English sense….I also wonder how you got yours….its obvious you went thru..’leakage’….

  5. These guys don’t take responsibility for their failed policies. For once, admit when you have messed up and take corrective action. Lubinda is one fella who is very good at talking but he’s, in fact, an empty gong. That’s why you don’t base leadership qualities on one’s eloquence. Sadly, most of you do!!

  6. Anyone who travels to Malawi since December 2015 can agree with me that Zambian breakfast flour could be seen in almost all shops in Mchinji, Lilongwe, Dowa, Kasungu, Ntchisi and Dedza districts. People even say that without Zambia, most Malawians would have died. Price for 25kg breakfast bag from Zambia is about MK7,500, while the 20kg cream of maize, a local product, is selling at about K8,100. But how this flour manages to reach Malawi while Zambians are crying of shortage of the same is surprising. I believe that most of it, if not all, is being smuggled. If that is the case, then the blame cannot be prudently be laid on PF, but the smugglers. I WONDER WHO THE SMUGGLERS ARE!

  7. Given, what is malicious is screaming on ZNBC that there is mealie meal when infact there is not enough mealie meal. When did the opposition get so many that they can buy and hoard mealie meal and cause such scarcity? I wish you knew how irritating your PF has become to us Zambians. If you can not admit that there is something seriously wrong with mealie meal issue in the country, you will never find space in your brains to address this matter. Solving a problem starts with admission that the problem does exist. Otherwise, your chipante-pante kind of administration is putting millions of lives at risk of starvation. Switch on Given or we will switch you off forever.

  8. Sorry Given. The headline is supposed to be :
    Claims by opposition that Zambia is EXPORTING the maize are malicious lies -Lubinda

  9. Superior Milling Company and African Milling Company have their 25kg product in Malawi sold in almost every Malawian-owned shops. Read articles from Malawi24, written by Lindiwe Sambalikagwa, titled “Malawians asked to stop buying maize flour from Zambia,” on 12 February, and another on daily newspaper, The Nation, title “Zambian flour invades Malawi market,” on 2 February, 2016. Maize flour is being smuggled into neighboring countries. You can search for the titles to prove that someone might even be using this strategy to make political gains. Why blame the government for the shortage and not the smugglers, some of whom have their truckloads impounded at borders?

    • Joseph Mvula
      pipo like you make me feel that even bloggers should have a Grade 12 Certificate.So who do you think is in charge of the boarders if it is not your government?If anything your equally dull Minister earlier blamed the opposition for the shortages.Your PF has no shortage of security when harassing the opposition but now want to react as though policing the boarders requires rocket science.The only explanation is that it is government officials responsible for smuggling mealie meal.And to imagine that these monkeys have failed to improve the maize yields after getting into power but are busy smuggling the commodity is just digusting.PF must go.

    • Joseph Mvula
      Forgive me for coming up too hard on you.The solution is to vote for a leader that will police our boarders something that PF has failed.The first duty of any government is to secure the country.In their dullness PF and useless cadres like you are admitting to have failed.

  10. Bwana Minister what’s your relationship with Bo DORA in cabinet meetings after all those exchanges before she entered you so-called UBWATO? Truly there are no permanent enemies in politics. Shakafushas and Clance Zulu will soon be hugging each other in as comrades whichever party will form government and all this drama will be forgotten come August. ONE ZAMBIA ONE NATION.

  11. Mr.Lubinda and government! To believe you that there is smuggling which is not perpertrated by government officials,please prosecute and jail the arrested smugglers if any as an example to the public that these are the people causing shortages of subsidized maize meant for Zambians and forfeit all trucks involved to the state and fine the companies involved! Otherwise it will be a ping-pong game of accusations between you and the opposition.

    • Like someone said they are acting like they are dealing with drug smuggling when we are talking about huge trucks crossing designated boarders.

  12. Ba Zayelo
    You now have assets.Good for you to remind us.We are interested in how you acquired them and believe me you have very little time to come up with lies on how you became so rich within 4 years.

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