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Severe action for dishonest traders
2008-03-25 09:26:40
By Guardian Reporter
The Government has warned businesspeople assigned to distribute emergency food released to regions most hit by food shortage against inflating prices of subsidised maize.
Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives deputy minister David Mathayo issued the warning in an exclusive interview with The Guardian on Sunday.
The deputy minister was giving an update on steps being taken to avert hunger.
Three days earlier, Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives minister Prof Peter Msolla made an announcement that 17 districts in five regions were facing hunger.
Msolla told a packed news conference in Dar es Salaam that assessment made in the past two months had revealed that the regions needed 4,288 tons of emergency food assistance from the Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR).
``The government is quite alert. Dishonest traders who will hike prices beyond the agreed price will be dealt with severely,`` said Mathayo.
``We have put everything very clear right from the start. All those distributing maize to the needy will have to first abide to terms, which include selling the maize at 50/- per kilogram,`` he said.
He said a mechanism to monitor and control market prices for subsidized maize distributed from the SGR would involve local government authorities at ward and village level.
Mathayo said there would be no let up this time around and the government, through the ministry, had set up a monitoring mechanism to ensure that maize meant to avert hunger was timely dispatched and reached the intended people.
According to the deputy minister, the government is in the course of dispatching cereal consignments to 17 districts in five regions most hit by hunger due to prolonged drought.
He said so far, there was no officially reported death resulting from starvation.
``We are doing everything possible to ensure necessary supplies are delivered to all regions facing acute food shortages,`` Mathayo said.
The Government has assessed that an estimated 184,369 people in Arusha, Morogoro, Mwanza, Singida, Lindi and Shinyanga regions are threatened by hunger.
Prof Msolla said the government had a reserve of 129,522,863 tons of cereals in the SGR, 122,501.917 tones being maize and 7,020.951 tons of millet
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