Posted on July, 25, 2022 at 09:24 am
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, Peter Munya revealed that the government had initially exhausted various alternatives in a bid to lower the prices of maize flour and cushion Kenyans.
Speaking to NTV on Saturday, July 23, Munya noted that the efforts by the government to source maize from her neighbours, Tanzania and Uganda were futile after they claimed to have enough for their own countries.
He added that the government had to import maize from Zambia to contain the economic crisis that had seen the price go past the Ksh200 mark.
"I think he (President Uhuru Kenyatta) mentioned all the factors that contributed. We tried to source maize from Tanzania and Uganda but they said they only had enough for themselves, we eventually got some from Zambia."
"When we're importing maize, there is the cost of transport which tripled after the pandemic crisis. Then from millers taking advantage of the situation to hoard maize, as well as politics, might have played a role in this in order to influence the incoming elections," Munya stated.
The CS faulted a section of politicians, who he claimed to have a hand in the economic crisis- by creating a shortage in order to use it as a campaign tool to endear themselves to the electorate.
"The fuel problem had some involvement, those who were exporting fuel outside the country which was meant for Kenyans then blamed the government," he noted.
Currently, the price of a 2kg pack of Unga retails at Ksh100, down from Ksh205, as per the orders from President Uhuru Kenyatta during a State House briefing on Wednesday, July 20.
Other directives issued by president Uhuru included the suspension of both the Import Declaration Fee (IDF) imposed on imported maize and the Railway Development Levy.
The president poked holes in the situation, wondering why the prices only shot up during every electioneering period.
"Every election in our country has attracted an Unga crisis and at times it seems to be engineered. There is an obvious trend between the manner the price of Unga goes up and the way the tempo is taken up during elections," Uhuru pointed out.
Source: Kenyans