NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 20 – Azimio La Umoja – One Kenya presidential flag bearer Raila Odinga now says he is the man who intervened to reduce Unga prices in a bid to lower the high cost of living.
Odinga while in a tour in Nakuru on Tuesday said that he asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to put in places contingency measures to cushion Kenyans from the high prices.
“I talked to Uhuru and told him to reduce the Unga prices and you saw on Monday he reduced the prices. From today Unga is Sh100 and are you not happy? When I get into government we will reduce the high cost of living to alleviate suffering of Kenyans,” he said.
The Azimio presidential candidate castigated Deputy President William Ruto for terming the reduction of Unga prices as a political ploy to hoodwink voters in their political direction ahead of the polls.
“That Sugoi man (Ruto) is complaining that this is all political because he wants Kenyans to continue suffering and doesn’t want Kenyans to be cushioned. You people cried a lot and I told Uhuru my people are crying,” Odinga said.
Ruto claimed that the government wants to reduce the price of maize flour because elections are near.
While campaigning in Nairobi on Monday the DP Ruto questioned the government on why they let Kenyans to suffer for too long before intervening, adding that the intervention is late.
The DP said that Kenyans have already decided and that the move is too late.
“The government wants to reduce the price of unga because elections are nearing, the same government initially blamed the high prices on the Ukraine-Russia war and the war is still ongoing, Why did you leave Kenyans to suffer?” posed DP Ruto during a campaign rally in Kamukunji.
Amani National Coalition (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi who had joined Ruto on the campaign trail urged Kenyans not to be hoodwinked into supporting the Azimio la umoja one Kenya coalition.
Musalia also questioned why they are yet to reduce the prices of cooking oil as well as fuel.
“The knee-jerk solutions are meant to sway voters to vote for the Azimio team next month, please do not accept to be swayed,” Mudavadi stated.
On Monday, the government announced that the price of production of maize floor would be subsidized for a period of 4 weeks to bring the cost down from Ksh.230 to Ksh.100.
Unga will now retail at Ksh.2,250 for a 50kg bag, Ksh.440 for 10kg, Ksh.250 for 5kg, Ksh.100 for 2kg, Ksh. 52 for a 1kg packet and Ksh.30 for 500 grams.
The Ministry of Agriculture said that it will further deploy a team to conduct market surveillance and ensure that the commodity is sold at the recommended price.
