United Prosperous Charles Chanda says the Chinese have bewitched Zambian Government to an extent that they are closing access passage to historical roads like Alick Nkhata Road in Lusaka’s Long acres area.
And Mr Chanda says the Food Reserve Agency(FRA) should not be determining the floor price of maize because it is not involved in food production.
Mr Chanda said FRA should not play any role in the determination of prices for agricultural product but that it should be a responsibility of the Zambia Farmers Union(ZFU) to do so because it is directly involved in food production.
Appearing on Radio Phoenix “Let the people talk”.programme, Mr Chanda said FRA is punishing farmers by pushing prices of agricultural products downwards simply because they have no idea how a bag of maize is produced.
“I am shocked that our friends at FRA and Government will be sitting in those air-conditioned offices, saying this bag of maize will be going to be priced at so much yet they can’t even afford to produce a bag of maize.The price of maize must not be determined by the FRA it must be determined by people who are involved in food production,” he said.
Mr Chanda said FRA is playing on the intellegence of farmers by claiming that there has been an increment in purchasing of agriculrural products.
“From K85 the price went to K65, so you can’t come up and say we are increasing when the price is under K85, it doesn’t make sense. It means you are playing with the intelligence of the citizens. There has been no increase.FRA should not decieve the nation that we have increased the prices, you have not increased you must still get back to K85. You must say that we have reduced the price from K85 to K70,” the opposition leader said.
Mr Chanda said the bottom line is that farmers are suffering in the country.
He said the sad fact is that sometimes nature disadvantage farmers.
“The issue here is this, our farmers have continued to suffer.We do not have an idea what it takes to produce 150 bag of maize.there is also the issue of nature, sometimes it works against farmers” he observed.
The UPPZ leader said Government’s desire to keep the price of maize as low as possible should not be at the expense of farmers.
He said Government must subsidize the people involved in production if it wants to maintain low prices of mealie meal for food security.
“Are you aware that maize is the only means of income for people in rural areas. Whose salary has been reduced in the past two years but why do you want to reduce the income of farmers. It doesn’t help,” he complained.
And on the video that has gone viral, Mr Chanda said the Chinese have gone too far.
“We are by Alick Road, just near mass media complex in Lusaka. You can come and see here, that is our Chinese friends.Now this road has been here since independence, it is there on the map of Zambia.A Chinese can come here to put up a mall and close the road, they have closed the road. There is something drastically wrong in this country and if we Zambians are not waking up tomorrow, we will find ourselves foreigners. How can you close Alick Nkhata road. You are telling me that there was something wrong with this road.
He wondered what President Lungu was doing about the predicament.
“…and the President doesn’t stay far from here. Do we have a President in this country. Is the President there for us that the Chinese can do whatever they want. If the Chinese can be closing road then that is a problem,” he said.
Mr Chanda claimed that the Chinese have bewitched the Zambian Government so that they can do what ever they please.
“I don’t understand what the Chinese have given us. They have bewitched us, including Government officials so that they can be doing whatever they like and this must be stopped. There is just no way that they can be doing this,” he said, ” They are even closing our road using Chinese language.We don’t know whether they are saying that ‘Zambians are fools. Let us do what we want.”
Mr Chanda planners are planning for construction of a mall, the road must be put to consideration so that people are not convenienced.
He said when people must vote using their heads and not there stomach.
“As citizens, we are paying for voting with our stomach and not our heads. Next time let us vote with our heads,” he said.
Source: Kwacha Celebrity Newspaper