GOVERNMENT has challenged consumer watch groups and the Consumer Protection Commission to jack up and play their role of protecting consumers against price exploitation by millers selling mealie meal at exorbitant prices in some parts of the country.
Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Bob Sichinga said Government was not going to implore other price control measures for mealie meal other than the one taken to increase supply of the stable food.
Mr Sichinga who was commenting on the continued mealie meal escalating prices in the country said Government was continuing with the measure taken to offload maize on the market in a bid to help bring down price of the stable food.
“Government has taken measures to increase supply of mealie meal and we are continuing to do that because we are not going to control prices by other means other than by providing additional resources,” Mr Sichinga said.
The minister was surprised that while the price of mealie meal in Lusaka had dropped to somewhere around K64, millers in other parts of the country such as Copperbelt had maintained a high price on the commodity.
“I am surprised that mealie meal in Kitwe is still selling as high as K74 when in Lusaka millers have reduced to prices around K63,” he said.
Mr Sichinga said Government had done its part by taking the measure to offload more maize on the market aimed at increasing the supply of mealie meal.
He said from Government’s point of view, there was no shortage of mealie meal on the market and as such no reason for prices to continue rising.
“It is now up to consumer watch groups and the Consumer Protection Commission to protect consumers by ensuring proper competition in prices of mealie meal otherwise Government is not going to control market prices for the stable food,” he said.
We warned Michael that you cannot promise more money in people’s pockets with artificial price controls. Now PF has failed is turning to consumer groups for help.
Naimwa , there is no shortage of maize in Zambia only that the millers are taking advantage of the rain season to increase the price. Thats why I always advice small scale farmers to keep enough maize for the period so that they can just gaisha the maize. Zambians in urban areas should also learn to save for this period…not always crying .
@Truth.
It is not true that govt has done enough. The act of off-loading maize in January alone is not enough. In truth, govt has done all it can to abet the escalation of mealie meal prices. Blatant lies, removal of subsidies, appointment of party cadres in critical positions, unplanned, hasty and vindictive decisions – such as the Nyiombo (2012), the barter-system, etc all contribute to the rise in prices.
Be serious PF or you are gone.
Africa knew no hunger until the white man introduced us to mealie meal.Nshima is not what our ancestors ate.Our soils do not support natural growth of maize,it needs lots of water and expensive fertilisers. We need to get back to what grows naturally in our environment because its not only costly for governments to continue subsidizing fertilisers but it also just destroys our soils.Maize is not nutrient dense.Please its time we found other things to eat.Its difficult I know bu it can be done.And those fruits and roots villagers eat when they run out of mealie meal are healthy so I appeal to the media to not demonise those foods.Just because white man doesn’t eat them doesn’t mean its unhealthy.
I remember when in our village BaShi Chilufya was selling fish he just caugh to his wife, who then cooked for him and children.
That is our Zambian mentality, we buy mealie-meal and resell to ourselves at a higher price.
@Nostradamus
ahahahahahahahahah… thats a nice one,
It started with KAFUPI, then Cabbage followed by Nyama Soya, now it CHUMU. Mbwente yobenda yiku nyolongoka yayi, pala mwaiyiyolo yikotyoka. hahhaahaha
And this is supposed to be the brain of PF? Zambia has indeed gone to the DOGS
@DrDopamine,
Please tell Zambians again why Mealie meal should be banned!
It causes mental malaise and in severe cases mental retardation.
You can tell from the quality of threads we are getting.
Mealie meal and maize are contributing to bad governance!
Please debate but these are already facts at molecular level!
This is nonsense Mr Sichinga. You cant say its up the consumers groups to help control the prices. Think twice we are talking of the staple food here.
He is being a professional and avoiding price control introduction,he is also asking consumer protection groups to help prevent consumer exploitation,
Govt is on course on this one.Advise on alternatives.
If you understood a bit of economics you will realise that the price of good only go up because of two reasons.. 1. Demand 2. Fixed pricing
The real reason the price was low 3 years ago is that Zambia reached its maximum out put of maize since independence under MMD with a well managed agriculture policy. Supply was more than demand and price could not go up. The real reason Sichinga is not tell you is that production of maize in the last two seasons has dropped due to lack of delivery of inputs. Demand is high and supply can not meet demand hence price increase taking into consideration that Zambia feeds neighbouring countries. I can bet you that most maize is now being smuggled across borders were it sells at high price. You asked for a solution. Fire this clueless moron
Everything in Zambia is expensive, electricity, water, even spare parts are expensive. The millers have to pay for electricity which is expensive, water which is expensive and pay salaries too and other expenses. The government removed the subsidy and you expect things to be cheap. Look at fuel, is it cheap? Let us face reality here.
I thought things were going to be cheap and advantage the rural community, but it is now worse. people let us pray for this government to be real, to me they are not real. They have not realised where they are, the reason they take things of great importance casually and behave as if they are still in opposition. Look at the by-elections, they think they are challenging another party, but they are doing more harm to poor Zambians.
Lets stick to the subject matter to avoid confusing yourselves,the issue is govt saying lusaka mealie meal prices have been managed while CB is still unresonablely high nothing to do with by by-elections.lol
There is a time to pray and a time to act!
Prayer alone is like faith without works … Useless!
While you close your eyes, the Politicians are cashing in big time!
God takes no pleasure in cowards!
you are the one who made a lot of sense here. whatever you produce you need a lot of thing on board to produce it . hammer meals need power, need communication with clients , need transport and workers etc all these need money and now they are expensive. of course the product has to be expensive too.
Here in Mpika we buy a 25kg bag of breakfast at K75 Mr. Sichinga. In addition Chambeshi Water and Sewarage have continued to loadshed water. It is just too much of water loadsheding here but surprising bills come even when there is no water. MP Kapeya is a big failure wth Maloza Sichone.
When did it become the mandate of Consumer groups to deal with price controls or as is in this case price gouging because Zambia is a free market economy right now?
Sichinga needs to be educated about the role of these consumer protective bodies. Their role is not to protect customers against price rise but rather unfair trading practice. This is what these bodies exist for.
For example if you walk in a shop and buy a 25Kg bag of meal meal and you go home and weigh it and you find that it is 15 Kg, that is the type of case that consumer protective groups will be called in to deal with because it is an unfair trading practice and there is a law these groups can use to enforce that type of expoitation.
Sorry another DULL reaction from Sichinga
MMD boot-licker my respect grows for you by the day due to your level-headed contribution on the blog. When MMD was in power and PF in opposition I thought your support for MMD was very biased and not objective, not surprising going by your name. However ever since PF came into power I have noted that your criticisms of PF are always justified and contributions are very objective. A case in point is the one above. I enjoy reading your contributions.
@MMD chief bootlicker you have given empty tin bob a good education for free. Bob is just good at talking nonsense as if he not a learned person. He talks like a common panga family cadre in the street.
@MMD Chief Bootlicker,
BOB is another Chumbu Mushololwa………. on Zambians again. Let me just say the PF government is a group of CHUMBU MUSHOLOLWA and NCHELELEBULAS
Its taken me 17 years to visit Zambia and last week i got a shock of my life… this country is truly finished and done. Meals of 4 people at pamodzi hotel cost us US$290
The place is so dirty its unbelievable. Roads are pathetic and turn into rivers when it rains.
My kids could not believe this is where i come from. This is indeed the true Africa. Zambia just needs to be colonised again
Good luck Amigo’s you will not see me in another 17 years
Engineer, I will be visiting next week, I havnt been back for 4 years…… I hope that I am not as disappointed as you………..
You would pay the same amount for a meal for 4 people in a decent hotel or restaurant in the US, Canada or UK. So there’s no difference at all
Chilala
Zambia is not US, Canada or UK and believe me am well traveled (39 countries) the meals were not worth what you talking about. Its like comparing London to Lusaka
Paul
Good luck for me it was a waste of 4 air tickets
Engineer what is your point on telling us the cost of the the meal you had at Pamodzi? The reason I ask is that you went to one of Lusaka’s most expensive hotels so it is no wonder it cost so much. You would pay the same price or more if you had your meal in one the most expense hotels in other country. Granted the quality of the food and the standard of service will not be the same so you may not be getting the same value for money. However the reason for this is in part because of the same decay and poor infrastructure you have referred to which make the cost of doing business extremely high in Zambia even if the service and product delivery is inferior. So my reason for asking what your point is in sharing the information is that the cost is probably justified in the Zambian context
Engineer you shouldn’t say such things about your mothers country you should have gone to TZ to your fathers country. After we educate you here in ZAMBIA you go and finish off your education in Australia now Zambia is finished? Ok have a good life for the next 17 year when you have real children and your mother is old….and not working for the local international organization she works for.
Comparing oranges with bananas I guess. If indeed you are well traveled you could have expected this. You cannot compare countries without setting a standard measurement yardstick. The infrastructure you left 17 years ago cannot remain the same; it wears out; except your former government never maintained it, not until 6 months before 2011 elections. As for the cost of meals and Pamodzi hotel, well, did you expect them to give you “Australian prices” in Zambia? Ani oone ani oone anankala pansimbi yo kuupya bwana. Thank God you have a country you call home; when your immigration status changes, your heart will take you where it belongs; home!!
The discussion that @TheEngineer(Australia) has expressed can not go without comment. Most of us in the diaspora do appreciate the structure to development in the countries we visit. While it may be true that Zambia is experincing a high economic growth, unfortunately there is very little structure to this development especially where construction and infrastructure is concerned. Each time I go to Zambia, as an engineer too, is this lack of structure. Its like there is no design and no town planners to enforce Town and Country planning laws. The aspect of Form and Function is thrown out for expidiency. Take roads, most towns in Zambia have had the same roads for over 25years and yet the volume of traffic has increased leading to congestion. The population needs to do more on litter awarene
I am visiting Zambia in june after 6 years.The photos I see of street vendors no drainage system etc might make me change my mind and go to Egypt or Kenya.The country looks like rubbish pit.
Very interesting discussion…as some one who is also based outside the country, I can understand what most people are saying. But we need to be very realistic especially when one is going to visit home. Its not perfect, bad roads, long and unacceptable waits at the airport, rude staff in banks and other places (air-tell manda hill) lazy people, expensive in every way etc. But despite all this some of us long to visit our grand parents, cousins and uncles. They are blood and home is home despite its imperfections and frustrations.
Barotseland.
You announced zamseed is finishing maize
You announced MMD printed k3 trillion illegally
Sir you are not being fare to yourself
keep quiet peharps you may regain some dignity
Workin under sata has turned you into a LUMPEN
MMD chief bootlcker you have spoken to the truth these old men with no new brains called pf are killing this country sichinga has no idea of what his talking about a shame of the nation that’s what he is very dull statement bob grow up in education not that 1960s thinking
It’ s true Zambia needs to be colonised again. Everything is in a mess due to mediocre government style. I think the country has got a lot wolves who just aspire for leadership in order to eat and not with the desire to develop the country. Just think of such comments coming from a cabinet minister, does he clearly understand his role and the role of the government in particular? Everything about this country is going back into woods, who is going to redeem it ? nobody knows.
The recolonization that Zambia needs should only go back as far as Levy Mwanawasa era. The country enjoyed such a strong economic growth as compared to the chaos we are in now.
Jimmy
Now you understand why i say it was a total waste of 4 air tickets to even go there.. i could have had a better holiday elsewhere
Bob is a talk. Period. If there is any Ministry that deals with poems please take him there he can say poems well. As Government you must have undertaken to investigate the real cause of the mealie meal’s prices to up. Maize supply has proved not to be the cause that is the reason why prices have not gone down even after off loading a lot of maize. Be sharp man!!!!
He is really a talk, yap yap yap…no results..
What is mealie meal? i cannot find this word in the dictionary, and why is it an issue if the price of so called mealie meal is high? i dont think it affects the citizens much because the staple food , rice, macarroni,potatoes, soya beans are affordable now we need to worry for the price of animal feeds????? why
Are you joking? Maybe you are deliberately trying to draw parallels with a French monarch who in the 18th century exclaimed “let them eat cake” when she was informed that her subject were starving because there was no bread in the kingdom. The price of mealie meal (if you don’t know what it is then maybe you should not be on this blog) is considerably cheaper than all the other starch/foods you have mentioned hence the staple food of the common man in Zambia. By the way even if the word is not in the dictionary have you hear of ‘google’ and wikipedia?
UKU NDIYE KUFUNTA MANJE K63 ATI FAIR PRICE.MEANING CHAINAMA IS CLOSED
Hahahahaha mwanisekesa. Chainama bevala Mazo
The minister is right. Mmd chief bootlicke, there is a ceiling price given on basic stuff including food as guided by the production costs. For example in south africa, u cannot buy the same tooth paste at prices varying over 15 percent.afte all shops buy from same millers. Do not mislead people. Consumer protection is the best thing that has happened in other places and guard against selfish people like u from abusing consumers. The minister is right
This would not work in Zambia due to absence of enforceable legal framework. At the very most all the competition commission can claim that the millers are colluding. However there are so many millers in Zambia producing mealie meal that is not a sound argument. Also if ones was to use your logic different millers have different cost structures (depending on economies of scale, location etc) and even the source of the main input, maize varies, so one can not entirely expect a homogenous price. The regulation in Zambia does not even have in place the example you cite of South Africa for prices to be within a 15% range
When m,ad men have no ideas, they blame others for their failures and madness! So it goes.
Assuming everyone has more money in his or her pocket then mealie meal price should not be an issue at all.
Friends vote wisely in 2016.
@fumbi
In Zambia, don’t forget that we have an unstable Kwacha exchange rate and a slowly creeping inflation due to other failings in the economy.
So you can’t realise that the subsidies you removed is affecting mealie meal prices?
u have reduced mealie meal in lusaka to around 63? or u mean u have reduced from 39 to 63. atase
Truly this is a government full of morons. Sichinga thinks consumer groups will help him when he did not listen to them when they warned of the effects of subsidy removal, wage adjustments and chaotic tax regulations. Live with the consequences of your lack of foresight.
Another Chumbu Mushololwa………. on Zambians again.
Sichinga used to talk very cleverly before being appointed, now we can see he’s an empty vessel making too much noise for nothing. Admitting defeat, they thought ruling was easy, its true even RB was better.
This is political.
And this is supposed to be the brain of PF?
But … the government is here to regulate such. Why do they want someone else to help them govern. Have they failed?
#CumbuNoPlan
Maybe if Bob kept some hair he would think better and as Kwak kwak says if he knew when maize is grown and when fertilizer or manure is needed he would be a better ‘MINI’ ‘STAR’….
Gov can regulate the profit margins of essential goods, so that miller’s don’t price gouge. It’s happening here in America on gas. What do they do when they visit America learn something.
What a weak government after they have done ‘enough’ the prices remain high. Whatever their efforts are therefore completely inconsequential!
whatever you produce you need a lot of things on board to produce it . hammer meals need power, need communication with clients , need transport and workers etc all these need money and now they are expensive. of course the product has to be expensive too. so you think if you raise tax, fuel price, phone bills, water , electricity then the mealie meal will remain the same . this is stupid indeed. cost , demand and supply determines the price of a product . pf has really failed