The Sh90 two kilogram packet of unga has become a rare and precious commodity countrywide.
President Uhuru Kenyatta during a campaign rally at Bomet on Friday, June 16, 2017.
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The President has ordered all retailers to stop forcing consumers to buy other goods when they go for unga.
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The Sh90 two kilogram packet of unga has become a rare and precious commodity across shops countrywide and unscrupulous have devised new ways to cash in on the desperation by Kenyans.
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Retailers have been forcing customers to buy other goods along with the unga.
Those who have refused to agree with the terms have been turned away and forced to seek alternative means to obtain the maize flour elsewhere.
Speaking during a rally in Malinya, Kakamega County on Saturday, Kenyatta said Kenyans had a right to buy the flour and that forcing them was infringing on their rights.
"...hiyo mahindi itakuwa ya kutosha na tunawaambia wateja wetu ya kuwa mkipata hiyo unga, msiwalazimishe wakenya wanunue vitu vingine," Uhuru said.
(When maize comes, it will be enough for everybody. Retailers should not force consumers to buy other goods in order for them to get the flour).
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Last month the President launched the Sh6.5 billion subsidy programme for maize.
The programme part of the measures aimed at lowering the cost of living and help tame public anger at the Jubilee government over expensive food.
The President instructed the National Treasury to draft a supplementary budget through which the subsidy programme on maize would be executed.
Kenyatta also allowed duty-free importation of maize, milk powder, and sugar – whose prices had sky-rocketed at an all time level.
