IT’S A SHAME TO IMPORT MAIZE
IT is a shame that Zambians are now dying of hunger because of the lack of vision by the UPND government and President Hakainde Hichilema that is now importing maize from Uganda and Tanzania after raiding the country’s silos and sold the 1.5 million metric tonnes of the grain against the timely and advice from the Patriotic Front (PF), Brian Mundubile has said.
Mr Mundubile, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament has called for the resignation Mtolo Phiri, the Minister of Agriculture and all those who were involved in the sale of maize, which had left the country food insecure after more than a decade of the country being the food basket of the region.
Mr Mundubile, the Mporokoso PF Member of Parliament says Zambians were suffering because they had voted for a leadership that claimed had a vision but had turned out to be the most uninspiring and visionless government Zambia has ever had.
“Our people are dying of hunger because of a leadership that lacks vision. When you have a leadership that lacks vision, the people perish. It is a shame and clear lack of leadership on the part of the UPND and President Hichilema that Zambia should be importing maize from Tanzania and Uganda after exporting they had exported 1.5 million metric tonnes of the maize they inherited from the PF. This also shows the levels of selfishness in our leader. There was no reason whatsoever to dismantle the maize stocks the PF had built over the years,” Mr Mundubile said.
Mr Mundubile stated that had the President Hichilema and the UPND listened to the advice and warning against the wholesale exportation of the maize, they would have realized the wisdom of why the PF built up the maize stocks. He said the drought did not come as a surprise as the warnings through various documents were given to the effect that Zambia was going to suffer occasional droughts and that the government should have been prepared if the leadership had the vision.
“When the UPND came into power, they should have found out why the PF had stocked maize of up to more than three seasons. The PF under President Edgar Lungu was responsible enough and started buying the maize from farers because we knew that there was a possibility of a drought. But the UPND so everything that the PF did as bad. They believed that there was corruption in the stocking of the maize ansd so, they came and sold it off. They were in government and wanted to count the dollars…they wanted to look like businessmen over things they never worked for and we are now in trouble,” Mr Mundubile said. He stated that it was disheartening that the UPND government was not even ashamed to proudly announce the importation of maize from Tanzania and Uganda after selling of the maize they had inherited.
“…and what is most disheartening is that they are still boasting that they are doing very well. Our leaders have abandoned doing what should be of interest to citizens and are focusing on private interests. Zambians, even the very few who have remained loyal to the UPND and President Hichilema believing they had a vision to govern have realized that they have constructively failed and they must therefore resign or they should be prepared to be voted our t in 2026,” Mr Mundubile said.
“They have displayed lack of capacity to govern, they have displayed the highest levels of incompetence in managing our critical sectors such as agriculture, energy and health. They must resign,” he said.