MAIZE MEAL DEALERS WARNED AGAINST INFLATING PRICES

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traders buying mealie meal in bulk and reselling it at inflated prices after creating an artificial shortage will have their merchandise confiscated and forfeited to the State, Southern Province deputy permanent secretary Kennedy Mubanga has warned.

Mr Mubanga who was speaking in Choma yesterday after the 7th National Development Plan consultative meeting, said the mealie meal would be confiscated by State Police and the local authority.

He was reacting to falsehoods perpetrated by some media houses that Choma was facing a meaIie meal shortage.

He said in an effort to frustrate Government, some unscrupulous traders were buying in bulk to create an artificial shortage and later resoled the product at exorbitant prices.

Mr Mubanda said contrary to what was being reported, only one miller in the district, Choma Milling, had ran out of maize meal. The milling company had even approached Government requesting to be included in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to buy Maize from Food Reserve Agency at subsidized prices.

"If somebody buys and resells at K230, that is illegal, especially these traders who don't even have licences but just want to capitalise on the situation. So the position is that we have enough mealie meal in Choma alone," he said

He also disclosed that Choma Milling had subsequently been given 12, 500 metric tonnes of maize which the company would be receiving in batches of 2, 500 tonnes.

"So we don't expect to see this created artificial shortage and we are appealing to the Zambia Police to work with the local authority to flush out these black market traders," he ordered.