SILUMESI MALUMO writes
MILLERS must reduce mealie meal prices without making excuses because they are now buying maize at cheap price from farmers, Patriotic Front (PF) Lusaka Province Secretary Kennedy Kamba has said.
“We expect millers in the country to be very truthful and patriotic to this country and its people especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Kamba said many times millers had hiked prices of mealie meal, giving excuses among them, high production costs and escalating prices of maize.
“Today, as we speak, the price of maize has really gone down and millers are buying maize at K2 per kilogramme. There is no reason to subject Zambians to hiked prices of mealie meal when the price of maize from small scale farmers is now low.
“Millers must be grateful to the Government and the people of Zambia over many incentives they are given to sustain business and consequently post dividend,” he said.
The price of mealie meal, he said, must be commensurate with the incentives they were getting from Government such as getting maize cheaply.
“We are disappointed that some millers have continued with their attempts to arm-twist the Government into making decisions that only benefited them with reckless disregard of how such decisions affected the economy,” Mr Kamba said.
Mr Kamba said at a critical moment like this one, Zambians expected investors to be responsible enough.
“We must work together to lessen the burden on the economy and protect the interests of the people even amid Covid-19,” he said.
