NAIROBI, Kenya, April 18 – President William Ruto’s spokesperson, Hussein Mohammed, claimed on Twitter that maize flour prices had dropped to between Sh159 and Sh160 yesterday.
Mohammed’s claim comes after the head of state announced on Friday that commodity prices would be dropping soon.
A spot-check by Capital Business as of Monday evening, however, found that this was in fact not true.
At Naivas and Quickmart supermarkets, for example, a two-kilo bag of Ndovu costs Sh189, Jogoo maize meal costs Sh208, Ajab maize flour costs Sh199, and Pembe maize meal costs Sh208.
Others are Soko Maize Meal, Sh207, and Raha Premium Kavagara, Sh262.
“Unga prices have started going down just as President William Ruto has assured Kenyans over the weekend. Prices have dropped to Ksh159 and Ksh 160, depending on the millers,” the spokesperson tweeted.
“When the president assumed office last year, a 2kg packet was retailing at approximately Ksh230.”
Kenyans took to the social media site, stating that the prices mentioned on his Twitter handle were wholesale prices for low-demand brands that are not mostly consumed by Kenyans.
“Poor quality maize flour brands manufactured by the Tangawizi govt. Show us what we consume oftenly like Jogoo, soko ugali,” Ian J replied.
“Show us the price for Jogoo and Pembe then we can appreciate it, stop showing us brands that sell low quality Unga,” Roshan replied.
President William Ruto said the price of maize flour will go down starting next week when the country receives the imported shipment.
Ruto’s statement came amidst calls by Azimio leader Raila Odinga asking the government to consider lowering the prices of unga as a sign of good will toward the proposed bi-lateral talks.
Kenyans have continued to complain about the high cost of living and have called on the government to come to their rescue.
