By NATION REPORTER
IT is a mockery to tell Zambians to stop depending on Nshima and start eating rice as if it is any cheaper, former PF secretary general Davis Mwila has said.
The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) board chairman Kelvin Habwenzya has advised Zambians to stop depending on Nshima only as there are alternative foods such as rice an, sweet potatoes and pumpkins which were much more affordable.
But Mr Mwila said it was folly and an insult for leaders to mock Zambians to give up the staple food in preference for alternative foods such as rice, which was not the country’s traditional and cultural staple food.
He said the UPND administration should stop issuing statements as if they were talking to children in their private homes, stating that it was being insolent for leaders to ridicule citizens over food.
Mr Mwila said the failure by the government to bring down the cost of mealie-meal should not by any means suggest that Zambians must stop eating Nshima.
He said the rice they were suggesting to the people was more expensive compared to the bag of mealie-meal that was why rice could never be solution to the existing problem of rising mealie-meal prices.
“We cannot be mocking people like this over food. The statement by the FRA board chairman, Mr Habwenzya is no different from what the Vice-President Mutale Nalumango said that Zambians should resort to eating roller meals,” Mr Mwila said.
