Residents of Muthurwa market in Narok town have called upon President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and reduce prices of food commodities, which have gone too high before he leaves office in a month’s time.
The residents lamented that placing a plate of food on the table was becoming almost impossible as the prices of basic commodities like maize flour, cooking oil and milk had virtually doubled.
Moses Maina a tomato vendor at the market said the astronomical increase in prices was worrying and added that moving produce from the farm was too expensive because of the high cost of fuel.
“Transporting tomatoes via a Probox from the Narosura market where the production is high would previously cost a farmer Sh6, 000 but the charges have increased to Sh10, 000. This has made us sell a tomato at Sh10 apiece, which many cannot afford,” he said.
Maina regretted that many residents have stopped buying tomatoes, making him lose money, as the vegetables are highly perishable.
Alice Mwihaki, a vegetable vendor at the market, asked President Kenyatta to intervene before he leaves office so that he can leave a good legacy.
“We have confidence in our President and we know that he listens to us. We request him to help lower prices of essential commodities before he leaves office so that he can leave a good legacy,” she said.
Another trader Hellen Wanjiku said the little profit they get is used up on buy food which has become very expensive adding that many families had opted for doing one meal per day.
Wanjiku asked the President to ensure food prices go down before he departs office in August because affordable quality food was one of his agenda in the ambit of the ‘Big Four’.
A spot check at major retail shops in town shows that the prices of maize flour have increased to between Sh193 to Sh238 for a 2kg packet from an average of Sh120 to Sh130 in January this year.
