NAIROBI, Kenya Jan 4 – President William Ruto says his government has so far been able to tackle the high cost of living by tackling vicious cartels that controlled the maize flour prices for years.
Ruto told a joint TV interview on Wednesday night that had he not taken decisive steps when he took over office, the cost of living could have spiralled even more.
A 2-kg packet of maize flour now retails at an average of Sh200 down from Sh250 in August.
“If the elections that gone any other way the prices of Unga would have gone up to Sh 300 because you are not sensitive to what is happening in the country and you have not looked behind the scenes to look into the issue,” he said.
Ruto revealed that a certain cartel insensitive to the plight of Kenyans has been controlling the Unga prices for their own benefit leading to the escalating maize flour prices.
The Head of State maintained his government position of reducing the cost of living by boosting food production pouring cold water on the strategy of his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta employed by subsidizing consumption.
President Ruto who has received sharp criticism for removing the subsidies leading to skyrocketing of food prices said that there is no going back on the strategy.
On a short-term basis, President Ruto said that the government will import key food commodities which include rice and maize to deal with the current shortage that has precipitated the high food prices.
The Ruto-led administration is banking on the reduction of inputs of food production which include fertilizers and seedlings to curtail the never-ending crisis of high cost of living.
Already, agricultural officers have embarked to register farmers ahead of the planting season in February.
“We have already imported over 6 million bags of fertilizers and we add more so that we increase to 7 or 8 million bags depending on our research of registering farmers and getting to know which fertilizers farmers need,” Ruto stated.
President Ruto urged Kenyans to bear the current brunt of high food prices in the short term period but ultimately the high cost of living will be resolved.
Kenya’s inflation stood at 9.1 per cent in December attributable to a high cost of food, fuel and housing.
Annual inflation has been above the central bank’s 7.5 per cent ceiling since June pointing to the hard economic times that Kenyans have been facing.
