Residents in Mzuzu have accused the Mzuzu City Council (MCC) of encouraging theft of green maize through its failure to enforce a ban on sale of the commodity in the city.
Speaking on Monday, residents from Mchengautuwa, Luwinga and Nkhorongo townships who have their maize farms in the outskirts of the city claim the council’s failure to effect the fresh maize selling ban is costing harvest as thieves are stealing the maize on daily basis.
Ethel Phiri, from Luwinga whose farm is in Wadirika Singini Village, Traditional Authority Mtwalo in Mzimba district said for the past seven days, over half of her green maize farm has been harvested by thieves.
“Every morning, I wake up to reports that thieves are stealing from my farm. Just on Thursday last week, I woke up to a shocking surprise when some community members brought four 50 kilogram bags of fresh maize which they seized from a thief.
“The next morning, another report came that two men were also chased from the farm,” lamented the 70-year-old widow.
Another resident, Chama Gondwe of Mchengautuwa but has a farm at Sonda area said he was forced to hire watchmen after seeing that thieves were frequently breaking into his farm.
“I had to hire people to watch the farm, and together with my two sons, we also do early morning patrols around 3 O’clock just to ensure the maize is safe,” he said.
Agnes Jere is another resident from Nkhorongo whose farm was looted by thieves.
“When I visited last Saturday, almost a quarter of my farm had no maize cobs. I wonder why the council is still allowing people to sell fresh maize at this time,” she lamented.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one woman plying her trade in Mzuzu Main Market acknowledged that it is very likely that most fresh maize being sold in the city could be stolen arguing that most of those doing fresh maize business do not own farms and usually order the maize.
“For example, if you can come here around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, you will find vehicles carrying fresh maize selling it to vendors. It makes us wonder if a farmer could be selling tones of fresh maize on daily basis,” she said.
Mzuzu City Council’s Spokesperson, Macdonald Gondwe admitted that even though the council had issued a ban on selling of fresh maize in the city, there has been no proper enforcement of the ban.
“Usually, when a ban is issued, the police is served with the communique and our rangers are also on the lookout. However, there has been no enforcement on the same and indeed, it is business as usual in as far as selling of fresh maize is concerned,” said Gondwe.
He could not elaborate on specific challenges preventing the enforcement.
On 16th April, 2024, Mzuzu City Council issued a ban of sale of fresh maize following reports of increased theft of the maize in the city.
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