Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Former Prime Minister under the UNIP government Malimba Masheke has disagreed with the suggestion that government should be blamed for the impending hunger crisis in the Country.
Malimba Masheke
General Masheke is of the view that much as it is possible to plan ahead of such crisis his understanding having served in government is that in its operations government plans based on estimates.
He says this means that if there was insufficient rainfall in some parts of the Country and there is no hand over maize in the reserve it is only right that government imports the grain.
General Masheke who is also former Zambia Army Commander says he does not in this case think this is something that government should be crucified for.
He says he is comfortable as he knows government is supposed to do a crop focus and therefore if it suggesting importing food it could be that it has not yet done a survey of what the harvest will be.
The former Prime Minister is not however happy that the Zambia Meteorological Department is allegedly afraid of telling the nation what will happen during this year’s rainy season.
He states that the Department for which the people of Zambia are paying tax to maintain is supposed to keep the nation in picture in order that people know how the situation is.
General Masheke notes that this is whether the Country is going to have a disaster or not.
He suggests that if the Zambia Meteorological Department on the other hand is failing to give the nation a guide it is better to delete it from government.