IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Chipoka and Kalaba in ‘hot’ radio exchange
By Kombe Chimpinde Mataka
COMMERCE minister Chipoka Mulenga says the UPND has democratised trade as opposed to a scenario under the PF where Zambians who wanted to trade in maize were being “killed”.
Mulenga called into the Hot Seat Programme on Tuesday, which was hosting opposition Citizens First leader Harry Kalaba to challenge him over his line of debate.
“We have democratised trade. When exports of mealie meal were happening in DRC and other places you used to send ZNS (Zambia National Service) to shoot and kill Zambians if you find them with maize while exports kept going for privileged officials in PF. We have said ‘don’t ask ZNS to kill people who are trading in Maize,” said Mulenga.
But Kalaba cut in challenging Mulenga, “who was sending ZNS to kill people, Chipoka? I want clarity. Minister I want you to clarify because what you are saying on radio is very fallacious.”
In response, Mulenga said the government “that was in place and we have got many records of them shooting Zambians”.
But Kalaba challenged Mulenga to produce records of people that were shot for buying mealie meal.
“We will bring the records ba Kalaba (Mr Kalaba),” said Mulenga.
“Bring records, don’t just speak. You are a minister,” demanded Kalaba.
Mulenga said the government was not oblivious to the challenges existing in the country.
“The high cost of mealie, the high cost of fuel and other essential commodities and indeed as a responsible government we have not shied away. We are putting things in place to tackle them and I want the public to understand this.
We are committed to resolving these issues,” he said. “I am very shocked and surprised that my brother can downplay the outcome of the meeting we had with the Food Reserve Agency, with millers to see how we deal with these issues. When Kalaba was minister, they had a government which could do things in a hostile manner. Things should be done in a structured manner.”
Mulenga said that hikes of mealie meal around January and February was not a new phenomenon.
“Yes, the price of mealie has gone up and people are suffering,” he acknowledged.
“Under new dawn government we have gotten seven hammer mills. One in Southern Province and another in Central Province and these are milling the maize and it is helping to bring down the cost of mealie meal.
In Mpika, Central Province and many other places the cost of mealie meal has come down to K155. If government can reduce prices even private sector millers will reduce prices. A tonne of maize out there is fetching at K5,300 per metric tonne. When [Frederick] Chiluba came he left a free liberalised economy. When you came with PF, you left it and even us we have respected it.”
Mulenga said it was wrong for Kalaba to say some of the trips undertaken by the President so far were unnecessary.
But before Mulenga could continue, Kalaba chipped in, “You are informing the nation for a very long time on my programme. Why don’t you have your own press briefing?”
Mulenga responded, “I am a caller. What I will ask is this you the radio…Mr Kalaba is getting upset because I have started stating his lies. Facilitate a programme where ba Kalaba will sit here and I will sit here so that we discuss these issues.”
But Kalaba said Hot FM would not facilitate such a programme .
“I am not annoyed. The programme which should be facilitated Mr Chipoka is between you and Mwanawina Kwibisa (Citizens First Party spokesperson). That is your size. For me, bring President Hakainde Hichilema here, that is when I will sit with you,” he said.
Kalaba said Mulenga was speaking his lungs out on radio because he was under pressure from the President.
“He is under pressure from his boss that he should call to ‘say this. Make sure that you say that’. You can even see that it is all rehearsed but that is okay,” Kalaba said. “At my level here and with my experience I can sit here with ba Chipoka Mulenga a new comer in the government?
We have been there, we understand these issues from the finger tips. I want the President to sit with me and you also organise a meeting with Mwanawina Kubwisa our spokesperson to sit and they will thrush it out, not me because that is not the level I am at. He has however raised issues.
First of all, he has admitted the price of mealie meal is expensive. I think for me that is point of departure. Therefore, the Zambians have every right to complain when meal goes up especially that they had promised us that a bag of mealie meal will be fetching at K50 per 25 kg bag but he has however gone ahead to say I am disparaging the meeting they held with FRA. I am not disparaging the meeting, all I am saying is the method they are using of flooding maize on the market is not sustainable.”
Kalaba said Mulenga was politicking so that he could prove his worth.
“You know even when you want the boss to like you as a muzungu anikonde (bootlicker), you want to stand out so that you can preserve that which you should preserve especially. We should understand him (Mulenga).
The method through which he went into UPND is very different from those that deserve to be in UPND. So he would want to overwork himself, speak his lungs out so that the UPND can accept him as one of their own when he himself understands that they are people who should have been in the position where he is and they are not there. So he is playing politics,” said Kalaba.
