By Vincent Gunde
Illegally imported Zambian-White Spoon sugar has finally found its way in Malawi’s markets with thanks to shortage of sugar in the country besides having two sugar manufacturing Companies-Salima Sugar and Illovo Sugar.
Even though the Zambian sugar is in most of the markets across the country, its price K3,200 as sold in Lilongwe and surrounding areas is not cheaper as expected but a little bit better than Malawi sugar which is k4,000 a packet of one Kilogram.
Sugar shortage in Malawi has resulted to the commodity to become exorbitant and is beyond the reach of the poor who already are struggling to buy a pale of maize flour at K3,600 in Mgona township and surrounding areas in Lilongwe.
A Malawi Congress Party (MCP) diehard of Mvera in Dowa district Mr. Rodgers Kamphangala, has called on President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera to address the nation on the scarcity of sugar in Malawi and the reasons that has made the commodity to be sold at K4,000 per one Kilogram packet.
Kamphangala said it is sad that the price of sugar which has gone up beating Illovo Sugar company’s factory price of K1, 912 per one Kilogram packet lamenting that this has again come at a time when most citizens in Malawi are failing to meet their everyday life situations.
He said sugar price of K4,000 per packet has frustrated many Malawians regardless of their political party affiliations saying this is giving opposition parties chance to de-campaign President Chakwera so that he doesn’t bounce back in 2025.
The MCP diehard has claimed that many people in Dowa district have painted Chakwera’s leadership style being black with no hope that he can do better following the implementation of Affordable Input Programme (AIP) in the district that it was far from the people’s expectations.
He said many people in the district thought that President Chakwera would reward the Dowa people with fertilizer coupons for massively vote for him in the June, 2020 fresh presidential elections resulting to an all MCP Dowa District Council.
He noted with a great concern that eight village heads received only 8 fertilizer coupons, in some villages not even one benefited reducing the Dowa people to beggars while they are hard-working making Dowa a food basket district feeding other regions in Malawi.
“I am pleading with you President Chakwera to intervene in the sugar crises, continued silence on the issue, is resulting to many people insulting and castigating you who was voted on trust that you will turn around the country’s economy,” said Kamphangala.
