Ruto: You can choose to eat the Sh200 or Sh150 Unga
In his Labour Day 2023 speech, President William Ruto addressed the high costs of food in Kenya. He especially focused on the price of maize meal flour which cooks Ugali, the staple food in the country.
“As the government of Kenya, we must continuously work on reducing the cost of living. We want to make sure that every Kenyan can feed his family. We have spoken on the matter of Unga left, right and center.
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I promised you that we will have a plan to lower the cost of living, but some people don’t want to understand. The price of Unga is not about it being reduced on the shelf. Reducing its price begins at helping the farmer in the farm to grow enough food in surplus and when it gets to the market, the price is significantly lower,” said President Ruto in part.
He went on to note that the price of Unga got to Sh 230 and added that some brands of maize meal flour can be bought for Sh 150 for a 2-kilogram packet.
“I have seen you people saying ‘not yet, not yet’. I want to tell you this. The price was Sh 230. If you go to the shelf right now at Quickmart or Naivas, you will find there are packets for Sh 200, for Sh 180, for Sh 170 and for Sh 158. You are the one to decide on which one you will buy.
If you want to buy the one for Sh 200, buy it. If you want for Sh 158, buy it. It is your decision. This is a democracy and you can do what you want to do. I will continue working hard because there are some millers who want to play with us but I will go toe to toe with them until we make sure every citizen has a right to access food that is quality, that is enough for their families,” added President Ruto.
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Nairobi News conducted a spot check to see if the price of maize meal flour had indeed come down in retail outlets unlike in mid April 2023 when State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohammed announced the prices were finally lowered but it turned out to be a false announcement.
Nairobi News found that at Naivas Supermarket, the price of a 2 Kg of Ajab Maize meal flour sold for Sh 159 down from Sh 167, Amaize sold for Sh 249, Hostess retailed for Sh 246, Jogoo for Sh 195 down from Sh 208, Mama Maize Meal sold for Sh 198, Ndovu for Sh 199, Pembe for Sh 208, Raha for Sh 262 and Soko for Sh 207.
The price of Unga remains unacceptable to the opposition in Kenya who have been demanding for the prices to go down to Sh 100, saying that the ordinary Kenyan couldn’t afford to spend Sh 150 on a 2kg packet of maize meal flour to feed their families. This has been one of the key pillars of the opposition led demonstrations led by Raila Odinga and are set to resume tomorrow, May 2, 2023, after a hiatus to attempt to have bipartisan talks with the government. The talks never took off.
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