Zambia President Michael Sata delivers a speech on May 17, 2013 in Chongwe, 60 kms east of Lusaka. By Chibala Zulu (AFP)
LUSAKA, Zambia (AFP) - A decision by Zambia's president to slash a key food subsidy threatens to hit the poor, stoke inflation and spark a popular revolt against his government.Earlier this week Michael Sata tore up his own populist political playbook, stamped on it and set it on fire by announcing weighty maize subsidies will be scrapped.Reversing a policy he introduced on coming to power in 2011, Sata said stopping government subsidies for the staple food would lead to "real economic and well distributed growth."It would also save the government much-needed cash.But in reaching for fiscal probity, Sata has effectively grabbed the third rail of developing world politics with both hands.Famously, a 1977 decision to scaleback bread subsidies in Egypt prompted riots that killed nearly 80 people. The army was deployed to restore order and the policy was quickly rolled back.Zambia itself saw serious food riots in 1990, which helped push the government from power.The backlash this time round has been prompt, but, for the moment, nonviolent.Thirty-four-year-old Mooya Chilala, an unemployed father of two, said there is only one response to the move: Zambians must vote Sata out of power."I have many dependents and with this increase all I can ask my fellow Zambians is to remove this government from power," said Chilala.In Lusaka supermarkets a bag of mealie meal -- a coarse cornflour that is a local stapple -- currently costs around 50 US cents (40 euro cents) a kilo.In a country with high unemployment, 60 percent of people living in poverty and the average income at $3.45 a day, any significant increase will cause economic and social shocks.Sata's political opponents have been quick to seize on public anger.A coalition of civil society groups on Thursday demanded the government reverse its decision."We are giving the government seven days," said coalition spokesman Guess Nyirenda vowing mass protests.Njekwa Anamela, vice president of the opposition United National Independence Party (UNIP) said the situation was a "tragedy"."The government is failing to respond to the needs of its people," he told AFP."Food is made unaffordable and inaccessible to its citizens," he said...
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