TANZANIAN MAIZE COST 40% HIGHER – US
By Mast Reporters
THE United States (US) government is shocked that last year, the Zambian government signed a contract to import 650,000 metric tonnes of maize from Tanzania at 40 percent higher than the prevailing market price then to address a national deficit.
Speaking in Lusaka Wednesday, US Ambassador to Zambia Michael Gonzales wondered why the Tanzanian maize was priced at such an exorbitant price, which was 40 percent higher than the market price.
In his multiple themed address, Gonzales, who did not leave any holds barred, indirectly took aim at the grand mismanagement of public resources coupled with glaring lack of accountability and transparency in the fours years the United Party for National Development (UPND) has been in government.
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He said it was mind-boggling that to date, not all the 650,000 metric tonnes of maize the UPND imported from Tanzania has been delivered.
This, he wondered, is despite the US government contributing US$20 million in partner funding towards the mitigation of the economic and social effects of the crippling drought that ravaged half of Zambia in the 2023/2024 farming season.
“Zambia, mind-bogglingly, last year was wrought with drought, has no control over… the weather. And yet, at the beginning of the drought, the Zambian government signed a contract with Tanzania for 650,000 metric tonnes of grain to be imported from Tanzania. Paid for 195,000 tonnes of that. Not all of that has even reached the country yet,” Gonzales said.
“And the cost was 40 percent over the prevailing market rate at the time the contract was signed. And so, before we knew of the contract, the United States, as a partner, as a compassionate friend of this country, contributed US$20 million to address food insecurity and drought, only to find out that you’re paying 40 percent higher than you should to get the grain, and you’re not even taking what you received.”
Gonzales said those were some of the concerns that had led to a shift in global foreign aid policies, which had also affected Zambia.
“These are some of the aberrations that I think are leading to the current dynamic in the United States and well beyond. I would argue when you look at all of these things, we’ve had phenomenal human benefit. But collectively, we have failed, certainly in Zambia,” he said.
Gonzales expressed disappointment with the failure by government to plug the illegal externalisation of huge amounts of money out of the country from which the country would have reaped substantial revenue to invest in national development and social protection programmes.
“We know from the Financial Intelligence Centre [FIC] that every year from recent years, almost 20 percent of the equivalent of GDP [gross domestic product] is leaving Zambia in illicit financial flows. And the Zambian Revenue Authority tells us that if they were able to tax that portion which is taxable, there would be an additional US$1 billion [K28 billion] available for the fiscus [treasury] to fund public health, education, roads, elections, you name it,” Gonzales said.
