Nightmare for residents as war pushes up prices

Despite cheering the campaign by the Kenya defence forces and their allies who are fighting the Al-Shabaab insurgents in Somalia, communities living along the border are having a nightmare.

They are feeling the pinch of the heightened war in which the armed forces are seeking to flush out the terrorist group.

They are having sleepless nights as the war rages. They are having sleepless nights as the war rages.

Prices of most foodstuff and other commodities have significantly gone up.

Supplies such as sugar, rice, cooking fat and powdered milk that have been finding their way into Kenya through Kismayu, which is a free port.

They come from the Middle East as well as Asia and Europe and they are usually sold cheaply.

Even electronic goods and vehicles are normally cheaply available in border towns like Liboi in Garissa, Elwak in Mandera and Hulugho in Ijara district.

Some of these goods are eventually smuggled into towns like Garissa, Mwingi, Thika and even Eastleigh and other areas in Nairobi.

But since the border was closed, transporters can no longer risk their vehicles on the cutline roads used to ferry such goods.

The roads are now being patrolled by security forces to curb entry of Al-Shabaab insurgents into the country.

Nonetheless, some leaders in North Eastern Province are asking the government not to interfere with operations at Kismayu port once they take it over from the Al-Shabaab.

Before the military operation started two weeks ago, a kilogramme of sugar used to cost between Sh60 and Sh70 in the border towns. Today the same kilogramme costs more than Sh250.

Poor roads network

“I used to buy a bag of 50- kilogrammes of sugar at Sh3,850 but I am now shocked because those who have old stocks left are selling the same amount to us at Sh12,000,” said Mr Dubow Abdi, a trader at Liboi trading centre.

He does not expect the old stocks to last for long. “Soon we shall have no sugar left in our stocks,” the trader said in an interview at his shop.

Foodstuff like rice, Mr Abdi explained, used to be so cheap that he would get a 50-kilogramme bag at Sh2,800.

Currently, it is hard to come across a bag of rice in most of the border towns and it has now to be bought from Nairobi.

And due to poor roads network, the commodity is now scarce. A kilogramme that used to retail at less than Sh100 goes for as much as Sh400.

It is the same thing with cooking oil, which would cost Mr Adbi Sh1,700 for 20 litres.

Rice is a popular diet in this arid region of northern Kenya and people are now worried if they will ever get another chance of obtaining it cheaply.

“We are asking the government to ensure that trade between Kismayu and towns of North Eastern Province continues if they happen to capture the port from the hands of the Al-Shabaab rebels. The port has been our lifeline,” said Liboi councillor Bishar Gure, who is also a trader.

He said Somalis across the border have been flocking into Kenya to buy goods like soap, beddings, liquid paraffin and diesel, which are not available in their country.

“They have been enhancing our trade and so we are feeling the effects of this military operation,” said Mr Gure, who is among the people supporting the decision by the Kenyan military to help Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government forces to get rid of the Al-Shabaab.

Closing of the Kenya-Somali border is also being felt by livestock traders.

“There are several animals from the Kenyan side still in Somalia after the border was closed and we are now suffering scarcity of animals like goats,” says a livestock trader, Mr Noor Omar.

Mr Omar said the price of a live goat has gone up by Sh1,500. He, however, said although they are suffering due to the high prices they want to see Al-Shabaab insurgents flushed out.

However, a senior police officer at the North Eastern provincial police officer’s office, Mr Danson Diru, said this business is illegal.

“Somalia has remained stateless and without a government in place, Kenya cannot transact any business with such a country and so all goods coming from the county do not follow designated routes,” he said.