Lusaka Mayor Miles Sampa has accused Pick n Pay franchise chain store at Lusaka’s Kabulonga Central Mall of stocking rotten food, adding that he will not hesitate to name and shame them.

And Sampa says he will name and shame anyone else who doesn’t keep Lusaka City clean, unless the culprit is President Edgar Lungu and his minister, Vincent Mwale.

On Friday during Choppies birthday bonanza draw, Sampa said he was going to name and shame Pick n Pay for stocking rotten food, adding that he had received numerous complaints from consumers.

When asked in an interview if his health inspectors had approached Pick n Pay to verify facts that the chain store was stocking rotten food, Sampa said regardless of that, he had received enough complaints, adding that he had launched a campaign called ‘name and shame’ where he would be exposing anyone who did not keep the city clean.

“I have launched a program called ‘name and shame’ to name anyone who is not keeping Lusaka clean, green and healthy. As mayor, I will expose anybody that is acting in a way that is against the ‘keep Lusaka clean, green and healthy’ as we have been guided by our President Edgar Chagwa Lungu. I will go flat out to expose, name and shame anyone, regardless of who they are. The only ones I may not name and shame is his Excellency the President because he is the President, and my minister Vincent Mwale because I report to him. Any other person I will shame and name you. This campaign has worked very well in other countries especially England and London,” he stated.

“In the same light, anyone who does good things in support of keeping Lusaka clean, green and health, I will name and compliment you. I will expose and say ‘this person is doing a good job’. The choice is to the residents of Lusaka.”

He said among the people who had complained to him about Pick n Pay selling rotten food was former Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda’s daughter Bwalya.

“I just don’t act from nowhere, I have to have a complaint. I had a complaint from a number of Lusaka residents. One of them being Bwalya Chikwanda, the daughter of former finance minister. She called me and complained about the quality of food staff in Pick n Pay, Kabulonga Central Mall. She claimed that the fridges were not working and that they have no backup for power so the food staff there was rotten. She had bought some offals or chicken and when she was cooking at home, there were flies all over because the food was rotten. I ignored her complaint but then another person called and complained. So this is the response to the complaint against Pick n Pay,” he said.

And Sampa disclosed that after naming and shaming Pick n Pay on Friday, it’s entire management went to his office to confront him for exposing them without verifying fact with them.

He added that during his campaign of ‘name and shame’, he would not call or warn anyone, but would just expose.

“Pick n Pay immediately after lunch on Friday after the event, they came to my office, the entire management of Pick n Pay, they were ranting ‘how could you say that! You should have called us first’. I told them, ‘you are not my girlfriend or wife for me to call you. You are not my bosses or the people who voted for me. My bosses are the voters of Lusaka and when their rights are peddled upon, I stand by them’. In this campaign of name and shame, I will not call or warn anyone, I will just do it,” he said.

Asked whether those complaints were from all Pick n Pay outlets, Sampa said the complaint was from one outlet, but remarked that one outlet was affecting the reputation of the rest.

“The complaint came from Kabulonga [Central Mall] but what’s on the door there is Pick n Pay so it doesn’t matter. One bad seed spoils the taste in the mouth. So if all the other Pick n Pay [outlets] are okay but Kabulonga Central Mall is not, then that’s a bad seed that is going to spoil their name,” he said.

“When we had a meeting yesterday, I called my health inspector, the Council Director of Public Health Mr [Edgar] Mulwanda and the acting Town Clerk, they also confessed that they have visited that particular Pick n Pay Kabulonga [and] it was not the first time that complaints were coming to the council. The acting town clerk who lives somewhere in Ibex Hill, he also told them (management) in their face that he shops from Pick n Pay and he also noticed food staff that was smelling. So there is enough evidence of that.”

Meanwhile, Sampa warned Pick n Pay that if a similar complaint was reported, the council would close the supermarkets.