Kesses Member of Parliament CPA Julius Ruto has asked Kenyans to be patient as the government works on lowering the cost of basic commodities.
CPA Ruto argues that the government’s plan to provide subsidies on farm inputs is the best solution to the current high cost of maize flour.
Speaking during the Eldoret Agricultural Society of Kenya, the legislator said soon, the cost of basic commodities including unga will automatically drop.
“What is causing food prices to go high is shortage that increases demand as well as cost of production but i would like to urge the government to be a little bit patient as food prices will drop naturally,” CPA Ruto said.
He also dismissed demands by the opposition to reintroduce subsidies on food.
Food subsidies
The MP further revealed that Parliament has already halted plans by the government to allocate funds to facilitate payment to millers that facilitated maize flour subsidy before the August 9, 2022 poll.
According to the UDA legislator, it is unclear who the beneficiaries of the billions that government used on the subsidies were.
“We have formed an ad-hoc committee to look into the beneficiaries of the subsidy program so that we know the people that want to take advantage of Kenyans,” CPA Ruto said.
The opposition has threatened to stage mass actions should the government fail to re-introduce food subsidy.
But according to the MP, the threats will not stop government’s plan to empower farmers.
“The current administration is focusing on food production and sooner than later the demonstrations will come to an end as Kenyans will buy food at a lower cost as the government has put in place sufficient mechanism to reduce the cost of production,” said the MP.
Farmers are already accessing subsidized fertilizers at Ksh3,500 per 50 kilogram bag, down from about ksh7,000 per bag that they were buying in the last planting season.
