IT is evident that Government has politicised the growth of Marijuana in the country because the areas earmarked are those where some senior government individuals come from, Green Party President Peter Sinkamba has said.
Mr Sinkamba said it was evident that they had settled for Namwala because that was the area were the head of State came from.
He said it was also shocking that the Zambia National Service would be cultivating in places like Mwense where the minister of Youth hailed from while Kabompo was the area where Defence minister Ambrose Lufuma hailed from.
Mr Sinkamba said the government needed to engage the pioneers because the trajectory at which the programme was being done was not consultative.
“The Cannabis project was not in the UPND’s manifesto hence the need to engage us the initiators so that they do not go aloof,” he said.
He said the initial plan was to have all the 10 provinces grow the product and not just a few areas that were linked to prominent people.
Mr Sinkamba said that ZNS was part of the agenda but that not the way they were conducting the whole thing.
He said it was good that the UPND government had shown interest but that they needed to be cautious when dealing with the issue by consulting widely.
“I would like to urge the government to consider a wide consultation programme so that they do not make any mistakes going forward,” he said.
Mr Sinkamba wondered if the president had even designated areas of growing the Marijuana which was another key component.
