Government explains why maize flour prices not dropping anytime soon
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Government says maize flour prices not dropping anytime soon as a result of stiff competition for the product
Government says maize flour prices not dropping anytime soon as a result of stiff competition for the product.
On Sunday, March 12, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua explained the reasons why the government’s intentions to bring duty-free maize into the country had failed.
Speaking during a joint-media interview at Karen, Gachagua highlighted that there was fierce competition from East and West African nations to buy maize from South Africa.
He added that the government decided against buying corn from Brazil due to the hefty expenditures associated with travel charges.
“Cheap maize is not available anywhere in the world. The only available maize is from South Africa. We are in competition with Angola and Rwanda for the same maize. The maize in Brazil is too expensive to import because of the distance,” he stated.
In order to promote openness and prevent instances of bribery, the DP also pointed out that the government ignored the direct importation of maize.
He added that applicants for the duty-free import of maize had to go through a fair and open application process.
“The Government does not want to import maize directly because we don’t want corruption and scandals. We don’t want people in Government to get into business.”
“We advertised for millers and other people to apply, to get permits to import duty-free maize to bring down the cost of maize flour.
Unfortunately, there is no maize almost everywhere in the world,” he pointed out.
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He also commended efforts from the Kenya Kwanza Administration noting that the prices had dropped from Ksh250 to around Ksh170.
“When we came in, the cost of unga was between Ksh230- Ksh250, at that time there was a subsidy. We have worked very hard and now unga is between Ksh170-Ksh191.
“We decided as a government that subsidising consumption is foolish because it is not sustainable,” the DP noted.
Initially, millers lamented that they had been locked out of trying to get import licenses after failing to agree with the government about the landing price for a 90-kilogram bag of maize.
According to the millers, the government sought them to commit to the Ksh4,200 as the fixed price- which they pointed out would lead to them getting losses.
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