Minister of Trade and Industry, Vitumbiko Augeans Mumba, descended on Chipiku Plus Supermarket in Lilongwe this afternoon for hoarding sugar.
Customers at Chipiku were told the shop had run out of sugar leading many to despair but intel revealed that the management of the shop had instructed stoppage to sales while some people were still dubiously getting bales of sugar from the same shop.
The Minister who was in the company of the Secretary for Trade and Industry and CEO for the Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) upon finding bales of sugar in the shop’s warehouse, ordered the shop to take all the sugar to the shelves so that customers could start buying.
According to the Minister, this tendency is creating a distorted and artificial panic regarding sugar availability in the country and it had to be stopped.
CEO for CFTC, Lloyds Vincent Nkhoma, said hoarding of sugar is a gross violation of the Competition and Fair Trading Act.
A similar inspection was done at ShopRite and Chipiku Main along Paul Kagame Highway.
The Minister sounded a warning that his administration will not condone any deliberate distortion and crookery in sugar distribution including inflation of sugar prices above the recommended price by both wholesalers and vendors.
He further assured Malawians that the country has enough sugar to take them to the next production season.
Chipiku Plus has since been closed until they resolve the anomalies.
By Ministry of Trade
