Waruguru asks State to subsidise maize flour prices

Laikipia Women Rep Ms Catherine Waruguru. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Ugali, a meal prepared from maize flour, is considered among staple foods consumed by majority of Kenyans.

  • However, the last time the 2kg packet sold at close to Sh90 was during the 2017 General Elections when it retailed at Sh90 between May and December.

Laikipia Women Representative Catherine Waruguru has called on the government to subsidise the price of maize flour.

The lawmaker this will ease inflationary pressure and help cushion Kenyans against the hard economic times occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said that many sources of livelihoods have been affected by the pandemic and it is necessary for the government to start a food subsidy programme.

“Many Kenyans are suffering as a result of the ongoing pandemic, most of them have been rendered jobless while businesses have been affected.

“This is why we are calling on President Uhuru Kenyatta to consider reducing the price of a 2kg packet of maize flour from the current price to Sh90, a subsidy of approximately 35 per cent,” she said in Nyahururu town when she distributed food to the elderly and the vulnerable.

She said that most Kenya households are vulnerable and were dire need of help.

“I appreciate the efforts that both the county and the national governments are doing in ensuring that the vulnerable have been provided with relief food.

“We cannot, however, feed every Kenyan and that is why we are calling on the President interventions. His interventions will cumulatively reduce the prices of basic food commodities and make them affordable,” she said.

The Women Representative said the government should sell maize stored at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPD) stores across the country at subsidised prices to Kenyans.

“The high price of maize as well as other basic commodities would drastically go down if NCPB sell the stocked maize at subsidised price,” added the MP.

Ugali, a meal prepared from maize flour, is considered among staple foods consumed by majority of Kenyans.

However, the last time the 2kg packet sold at close to Sh90 was during the 2017 General Elections when it retailed at Sh90 between May and December.

Since then, the price has been skyrocketing affecting prices of other basic household commodities.

Residents of Laikipia County have raised concerns that they might be hit by starvation after most of their maize farms were invaded by desert locusts while others were ravaged by wild animals.