President Hichilema speaks on mealie meal shortages, spike in prices

President Hakainde Hichilema says an emergency response has been activated to address the mealie meal shortage affecting certain regions of the country.

Hichilema said he anticipates that the measures implemented will improve the situation and Government will closely monitor developments on the ground.

He said he had convened multiple consultative meetings with both government and private sector officials at a high level at State House on Tuesday.

Hichilema acknowledged the seriousness of the current situation, particularly with the shortage of the commodity in some neighbouring countries.

“It is our appeal to the citizens to uphold the interventions implemented by the government and maintain lawful and orderly conduct,” he said this at his official social media handle.

Earlier on Tuesday in a statement Finance and National Planning Minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane, announced that government has signed a statutory instrument to provide for suspension of duty on mealie meal.

Musokotwane said the duty suspension is only applicable when mealie meal is imported by a holder of an import permit issued by the Ministry of Agriculture.

He said Statutory Instrument (SI) Number 10 0f 2023, was gazetted and came into operation on April 6, 2023.

“The measure has been implemented to help address the shortage of mealie-meal in some parts of the country,” Musokotwane said.

He said by suspending the duty on maize flour/mealie-meal, the government expects to see increased availability of the staple commodity.

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