Lower cost of Living !

By Collins Mweteli

 Prices of goods and services in Kenya are skyrocketing at an alarming rate. The annual inflation rate in Kenya rose to 7.9 per cent in June of 2022, breaching the upper limit of the Central Bank of Kenya’s target range of 2.5 percent -7.5 percent for the first time since August 2017. Ordinary people are struggling more and more every day with the price of fuel, maize flour, maize grain, white rice, carrots, laundry soap, paraffin, diesel, and petrol. There is an urgent need for the  government to take action .

Indeed, the maize subsidy programme needs to be revisited and reworked. This should take into consideration the prevailing conditions including the availability of the grain both locally and in the region. However, it is also time for the county governments to play an active role in boosting agricultural productivity. A 2kg packet of maize flour whose price, back then was KSH 86/=, now it has highly elevated to KSH 188/=. A litre of cooking oil today, a Kenyan citizen purchases it at KSH 363/=, whose earlier cost was KSH 261/=! “ UNGA JUU, MAFUTA JUU.” Most of the products whose prices have gone up are basic to ordinary Mwananchi, which makes it critical for those in government to act with speed. Industry is being challenged to remain competitive with input and transportation costs rising rapidly and shortages throughout the global economy driving scarcity, threatening to push already punishing costs even higher.

A protest led by a Kenyan celebrity Erick Omondi, demanding for reduce of  high  prices, ‘STIMA JUU, MAFUTA JUU ‘due to the high cost of living in Kenya on 21^st February 2023 along the parliament road.

A friend of mine from Kericho just gave me a story concerning her county Kericho  how tea workers have changed from manual labourers to commercial sex workers. “ A tea plucker gets paid KSH7/=  just for plucking 1kg of tea leaves. It is unnerving to think how had such a person has to work to earn their sustenance. In an economy where 100 shillings in daily wages can not buy you a maize meal, one is bound to be devastated. The recent expose by BBC shows just how dire the situation is . How out of desperation, these women have found themselves making tough choices between their safety and their job. Losing a job is out of the question and as a result, they have fallen victim to sexual predation

 A recent report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that Kenya is experiencing a tight period of forex demand coupled with reduced liquidity in the interbank foreign exchange market as well as a depreciation of the local currency. The shilling had opened the year at 123.42 shedding about 10 percent of its value to the dollar year-to-date. This means that traders who import the goods will spend more to acquire them and thus pass on the cost to the consumers. “Bei Imepanda.”