Maize millers have warned Kenyans to prepare for an ‘expensive plate of ugali’ ahead of an increase in the price of maize flour, bringing back the memories of ‘Unga Revolution’.
According to a notice issued by Cereal Millers Association (CMA), the recent hiking of fuel prices following the implementation of 16 percent VAT would directly affect the prices of maize and wheat flour.
According to the millers, the cost of transport will rise further raising the cost of production and that they have no option but to move the burden to the consumer.
“Taxes on fuel will affect the millers directly despite the fact that the Treasury had exempted taxation on flour,” said the millers in a statement through their Chairperson, Mohamed Islam.
During the ‘Unga Revolution,’ a price of a 2-kilogram maize flour had moved from between 90 and 100 shillings to between 150 and 170 shillings. This forced the government to initiate a subsidy program where millers were given maize at a subsidized price, with a 2-kilogram maize flour coming down to 90 shillings.
The subsidy program has since been lifted and a 2-kilogram maize flour is retailing at between 100 and 110 shillings in major supermarkets across the country.
Ironically, the warning from the millers comes at a time when farmers across the country are crying due to low maize prices. A 90-kilogram of maize is retailing at 1,400 and 1,500 shillings in most parts of Bungoma and some parts of the Great Rift Valley.
In Bungoma, maize prices have been brought down by the influx of cheap maize from Uganda where a 90-kilogram of maize is going for 900 and 1000 shillings.
If the millers’ threat will be actualized, Kenyans will now have to put up with the increased taxes, high fuel prices and a general spiked cost of living.
Experts have already warned that the price of various goods will increase and that Kenyans will be overburdened.