President Hakainde Hichilema has addressed the growing concerns surrounding high mealie meal prices in Zambia, assuring citizens that his government is actively working to resolve the issue.
Residents across various parts of the country have expressed their grievances over the soaring costs of mealie meal, with prices ranging from K200 to K350 per 25kg bag, depending on the town.
Speaking during the Enthronement of Archbishop Albert Chama as Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Lusaka at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, President Hichilema empathized with the citizens and reiterated his government’s commitment to addressing the issue of exorbitant mealie meal prices.
In his sermon during the event, Bishop William Muchombo reminded leaders of the importance of staying close to the people they lead, emphasizing the need to be in touch with the realities faced by the citizens.The reminded leaders to be closer to the people they lead to an extent of smelling alike.
Reflecting on his presidency, President Hichilema stated, “In the two years we have been in office, we understand the meaning of that smell, the things that we have done with the support of the people of Zambia such as the debt restructuring. We had to do it because it affected the people of Zambia.”
President Hichilema acknowledged that his government is aware of various challenges faced by the people of Zambia, including the rising cost of mealie meal. He assured the public that they are actively collaborating with citizens to stabilize the prices of this essential commodity.
While acknowledging the complexity of the issue, President Hichilema reaffirmed his government’s commitment to addressing this particular challenge and working towards a solution that benefits all Zambians.
Question is what has caused the price to go up? Has government got any means to bring it down? If not please say so instead of assurances so that we can learn to live with it.
This is a Crisis and the President should understand the severity of it. The problem is wrong People in strategic positions who can’t even articulate any tangible strategic plans to bring the Mealie Meal price down. It is simple think and innovative. Same Dull Ministers like Mtolo will do nothing.
The same way you have donated boreholes in Lusaka , we are expecting a donation of a 25kg bag of mealie meal to each household in Lusaka and Copperbelt.
He assured the public that they are actively collaborating with citizens to stabilize the prices of this essential commodity.
Lt are the citizens and the public one and the same? So how can collaboration with the the citizens stabilize the price of the commodity?
Let the man work. Give him space to resolve the many challenges that chimbwi left. You want to continue crying. Leave him to prove himself.
This man has very good intentions
HOWEVER with the sub standard MPS and Ministers who are more concerned with their pockets
his intentions may not come to much
SUCH A SHAME
A lesson to those in opposition. Do not criticize for the sake of winning the elections. Even under Mr Hakainde when we’re facing difficulties, Mmembe and others must take time to understand why and where these problems are coming from. Mr Hakainde gave the impression that the PF were doing things deliberately and convinced the nation that there was an instant and simple solution to the problems that we faced. In short he mislead us simply because he wanted to become president.
As it’s now it will be impossible to convince the general population that the difficulties have globe influences.
Reality has dawned on him quite early. He thought we were making noise when we talked about these things. Even with organized crowds and some of whom were likely paid, people boldly expressed their displeasure. It was misplaced to try and blame it on the PF. That gimmick won’t work
2 years in and you want the man to fix 10 years of PF thuggery, looting and mismanagement………?
The damage wrought by PF was far far more than imagined……..
The country was living on borrowed money, each time borrowed at a higher intrest rate………
It’s not the PF that awarded his friends fertilizer contracts. To continue to blame the PF is an admission of failure. When Fred Mmembe takes over, he’ll regret having been President. Even his capitalist friends will abandon him like they did to Mobutu who didn’t even have a place to die. He invested all his stolen fortune in France yet the French rejected him. If it weren’t for Morocco we don’t even know where he could have been buried. It’s the price you pay for being a puppet
#Spaka. PF is gone. You fulls thought it was simple arithmetic only to find it’s calculus and you get confused.
Where else would Mealie meal dealers get money to pay their workers and to pay for other things to make sure their Plants are functional. Even if Mealie meal dealers owned Farms, the cost of mealie meal would still go up.
Change of habits can help reduce the price of mealie meal.
I know, we all Zambians eat Nsima with relish.
Yes, we feel a little droziness without nsima, but that feeling can eventually go off.
Now, it is time to start eating only relish and with time we can forget mealie meal which can be used for other things. It just has to be a national change among ourselves.
I have just discovered that the more we eat nsima, the more unthinking we are becoming. Nsima is becoming like a drug on us.
What do you thing felloe Zambians?
We all know PF did some wrong things to our economy with their bad decisions. However, this government should have taken a gradual process of healing the economy and not these abrupt changes we are seeing. There are issues that you just never touch such as food. Whether the government is good or not will be judged based on how well it is feeding its people. There is no goodness when it comes to a hungry man. You will be shocked.
“actively collaborating with citizens to stabilize the prices of mealie meal” how exactly?
The only solution is to subside the cost of producing maize. Give more farmers inputs fertilizers not few farmers. Trying to phase out FISP you’re shooting yourselves in the leg.
A hungry citizen is a angry voter.
Regimes are removed from power because of hunger staple food maize regardless how good the economic growth rate & inflammation are reducing.
Happened in;
1991
2011
2021
It will be sad to see it happen soon in 2026
This one is just a failed privatization thief. God will punish him even before he gets to hell. You can not take everyone for granted by keeping on telling lies. Ati I will bring down mealie meal to k50, fertilizer k250, dollar k5, fuel k17 and some gullible people are still dancing and can not afford anything.
If you are a farmer you will understand og why uhe price has gone up, you go in tge shops were they sell fertilizer go as ov how much they are selling their prices of fertilizer, then go find out the price at which those people who we use to transport the fertilizer from the shop upto the fsrm of how much they charge us the consider some of use how usr irrigation to grow the maize we also use desesl marchings for those irrigation marchings to work. You look at tge price of fuel we have to put tge prices up inoder for use to raise enough money to use to make those marchings to work so that we can wster our maize and other crops. So unless if the fuel ( petrol and deseal ) price can come down then we can consider reducing the prices of meali meal.
Only subsidy can bring mealie meal down not working with people.
You reduce FISP allocation like last Ag season, Farmer are forced to buy expensive fertilizers which pushes the prices up.
Just tell the people the truth that removing/ reducing subsidy on Maize production is part of IMF deal inorder to receive money for free education.
You’ll be surprised how much people will accept the truth & stop complaining.
So long the fuel price will be going up so will be the cost of us producing the meali meal.
Just be prepared from the way things are looking or going you will probably one day be buying a 25 kg bag of meali meal at 1000 kwacha or more in futuer in the price of fuel continues to go up.
From the way l can see things or notice things the fuel prices will be going upwards for the nect 3 years that why l am saying for the nect like 3 years its likely that a 25 kg bag of meali meal will go upwards or will be sold at mor than 1000 kwacha. You do the math in 2 years its gone to almost 500 what more in 3 years time.
From the way l can see things or notice things of how the fuel prices will be going upwards for the next 3 years that why l am saying for the next like 3 years its likely that a 25 kg bag of meali meal will go upwards or will be sold at more than 1000 kwacha. You do the math in 2 years its gone to almost 500 what more in 3 years time.
But please dont blam us us farmers bleam those who have made things to be so very difficult for us as fsrmers aswell by putting the price for deseal and petrol so very high they arr the onse who are causing us to put the prices of meali meal so very high
But please dont blam or hate us as farmers bleam those who have made things to be so very difficult for us as well as farmers aswell by putting the price for deseal and petrol(fuel) and fertlizers so very high they are the ones who are causing us to put the prices of meali meal so very high.
Oh the other way or methods that you can do is by buying a bag of maize and taking it to the chgayo to go and and gaysa or make a bag of meali meal that way it might be cheaper for you.
Subsidy on Fuel & Maize production nothing else.
Or truth for People to accept the status quo that it’s IMF deal inorder to have free education with empty stomachs