‘GET MEALIE MEAL EXPORT PERMITS’

GOVERNMENT has warned to impound trucks that are transporting maize and mealie meal across the border without export permits.

Copperbelt Minister, Japhen Mwakalombe, explained that the lift of the ban on export of mealie meal was not open to everyone but to millers who had export permits. He was speaking in an interview in Ndola yesterday.

“What we mean when we say that we are allowing the exportation of mealie meal is that only selected millers with export permits are allowed to export their mealie meal across the borders,” he said.

Government, he said, would continue fighting smuggling of mealie meal and advised traders to ensure that all legal documents were in place.

Mr Mwakalombe explained that the ban was lifted to enable millers sell their stock which had piled up and give room for them to buy more maize from the farmers after the harvest. He noted that Government alone could not buy all the maize from the farmers noting it would only procure 500, 000 tonnes for strategic reserve. The minister said Government had an obligation to ensure sufficient food the citizens, and that was why anyone exporting mealie meal without a permit risked having their trucks and goods impounded.