PF presidential hopeful, Mwamba, alleges importation of mealie meal from S’Africa is a scam

Patriotic Front (PF) Presidential Candidate, Emmanuel Mwamba, says the importation of Genetically Modified mealie meal from South Africa is a scam, which must be investigated with immediate effect.

Minister of Agriculture, Mutolo Phiri, on Tuesday in Eastern Province disclosed that the imported mealie meal from South Africa is already in and is being distributed to border areas where there is market demand pressure.

Mwamba says Section 14 of the Biosafety Act of 2007, however required that public consultation and awareness is done before importation or transit permits are issued for Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and Genetically Modified Organisms Products.

He said it is clearly apparent that the importation of this mealie meal was done without government following the due process of the law.

“Therefore, the issuance of the Statutory Instrument (SI) No.10 of 2023 by Minister of Finance, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, to waiver 25 percent import duty facilitates this corrupt importation and was done to attempt to clean-up and cover-up this importation misdeed,” Mwamba said.

He said this shows that high-up people are involved in this scam especially that Section 11 of the Act, prohibits the National Biosafety Authority from giving permits for the importation of GMO and GMO products related to crops or livestock of national importance.

Mwamba has pointed out that maize is Zambia’s staple food and is a crop of national importance.

“Therefore, there is a government requirement to show why the law is being blatantly abrogated to bring in the mealie meal imports tainted with GMO.
We need an immediate investigation to establish the truth and bring the culprits to book,” he said.

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