By NATION REPORTER
THE involvement of the Zambia National Service (ZNS) in the production and distribution of mealie meal has had no significant impact on the price of the commodity because of the high cost of fuel, Citizens First president Harry Kalaba has said.
Mr Kalaba says K170 and K180 at which the mealie meal from ZNs is being sold was still unaffordable for an average family and the government should not praise itself because Zambians were still struggling to buy it.
Mr Kalaba said the minimal price reduction on mealie meal which the ZNS was effecting had not cushioned most Zambians because the averake K180 was still far above what most families could manage.
He was speaking when he featured live on Radio Phoenix’s Let the People Talk programme yesterday.
Government, through the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) recently released what it termed cheap maize to the defence wing as one of the measures aimed at bringing down the price of mealie meal.
Mr Kalaba, however wondered why the United Party for National Development (UPND) government was telling the nation that ZNS milling had started producing and distributing cheap mealie meal when most families could not afford the price, ” Mr Kalaba said.
