THE HIDDEN COSTS OF TODAY MAY BURDEN THE TAXPAYER TOMORROW – THE CASE OF THE ZNS MEALIE MEAL PROGRAMME
Lusaka Province……At ZNS Headquarters….Saturday 21st October 2023
The widely heralded cheap mealie meal from Zambia National Service is actually not cheap but very expensive except that no one behind the programme is ready to reveal the hidden costs of the programme. We submit that any programme from any of the security wings is subsidised by the Zambian Tax payer and therefore, to proclaim that mealie meal from the Zambia National Service is cheap, is not only misleading but tantamount to taking the Zambian people for granted.
We submit that the Zambia National Service programme to provide cheap mealie meal is a heavily subsidised programme still heavily paid for by the Zambian people in addition to other costs the zambian people still bear, in their daily lives through heavy Taxes they pay to sustain the Zambia National Service as a security wing of Government and a service provider to the Zambian people
The Zambia National Service Mealie Meal programme that provides affordable mealie meal has gained attention and is being promoted as a better option to deliver cheap mealie meal to the Zambian people.The programme’s goal to provide affordable mealie meal may, on the face of it, be seen as a better option to the Millers’ supposedly expensive mealie meal but the reality is that the Zambia National service mealie meal is actually not cheap and even if it may appear to be cheap, it is still expensive because the hidden costs are still covered by the Zambian Tax payer.
The Zambian people are still paying heavily to make the ZNS mealie meal cheaper. Put simply, the Zambian people through Taxes, paid for the machinery and equipment used for milling, they still pay for mantainance of the machinery and equipment, Vehicles, transportation, fuel used and all the manpower used at every level to produce the mealie meal and deliver to the supply shop.
To the contrally, the Miller, who still pays all forms of Taxes to maintain the ZNS, paid to build the buildings he uses to produce mealie meal, pays for Maize from Food Reserve Agency and other suppliers, pays for maintenance of buildings, pays for electricity, pays for vehicles and maintanance of those vehicles and employs and pays the workers who end up paying Taxes to maintain the ZNS so that it provides the so called cheap mealie meal.
The grave responsibility the millers hold in the nation as producers of mealie meal and direct and indirect providers of jobs to the Zambian worker must never be underestimated. It is therefore important that those in authority do not demonise the miller without taking into account, the duties and responsibilities of the miller in the zambian economy.
He who pays the provider of a service cannot be compared to the service provider. Zambia National Service is a service provider and the miller together with his worker pays Taxes to sustain ZNS. Any holistic view of ZNS mealie meal is myopic and may end up disrupting the Food industry and in turn the economic and social fabric of the Zambian society. The task of the ZNS programme must be to supplement and not to disrupt the cornerstone of the milling industry. Millers provide direct and indirect jobs in the Zambian economy and therefore, any disruption in millers’ work places caused by overzealous actions and unwarranted condemnation of the millers will result in great loss of jobs with economic and social repercussions with dire consequencies.
Government must come clean on the ZNS cheap mealie meal programme with a clear message that the programme is not a panacea but a temporary measure to cushion off immediate impact on the Zambians while working on a long solution to the high prices of mealie nmeal in the market place. Propaganda should never be used to run the country for propaganda works for a short while and then leave you without a permanent solution and that has serious consequencies. Transparency in running affairs of State is a litmus test of a focused leadership ready to lead the people to the expected end.
Ultimately, the citizens of Zambia deserve to have a clear picture of the true nature and impact of the Zambia National Service Mealie Meal programme so that they may make well informed decisions about the direction of the nation.By being transparent, it may help Government buy time to come up with a permanent solution to the present predicament.
ZAMBIA DESERVES BETTER
Edwin Lifwekelo
Acting PF Media Director