Deputy President William Ruto claims the government has reduced the price of maize because elections are near.
The Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate and UDA party leader says lowering the cost of unga from KES230 – KES100 is politically motivated.
“The government wants to reduce price of unga because elections are near. The same government initially blamed the high prices on the Ukraine – Russian war, and the war is still ongoing, so why did you leave Kenyans to suffer?” Ruto reacted.
This is after the Government of Kenya subsidised the price of production of the commodity for a period of 4 weeks on Monday.
In the 4 weeks, the Ministry of Agriculture will cater for the cost of producing Unga partly so as to cushion Kenyans from the effect of rise in the price of the commodity.
As a result of the subsidy, Unga will retail as follows;
50 kg – 2250
10 KG- Ksh 440
5KG – Ksh 250
2 KG – Ksh 100
1 KG – Ksh 52
500 grams- Ksh 30
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya had on June 28 announced that the government will swing in action to reduce the prices of the particular commodity.
Then, the United Grain Millers Association (UGMA), an umbrella organization for both small and large-scale millers, said the move is insignificant and will have little impact on consumers.
“If we can have direct government talk to scrap export permit levy, then the price of maize will come down and this will impact on the cost of the final product,” said UGMA chairman Ken Nyaga.
Kenyans can now breath a sigh of relief in the supermarket shelves as the new unga prices take effect immediately.
