- “We are suffering, some people spend days without eating anything since the majority can no longer afford such food items”
- They said traders at the grassroots had inflated prices of their products, especially food items.
Image: GEORGE OWITI
Residents from rural areas within Machakos County have raised concerns about what they termed inflated costs of food prices.
The locals said their lives continue to become unbearable following the high costs of living in remote areas as opposed to towns.
They said traders at the grassroots had inflated prices of their products, especially food items thereby making those at the grassroots level suffer from heightened hunger.
They said prices of items like sugar and maize flour were retailing at as high as Sh300 and Sh270 per two kilograms respectively while a litre of cooking oil was sold for Sh290.
They said towns like Athi River sell the items for Sh250, Sh220 and Sh240 respectively the same package.
Attributing the inflation to poor roads in most of their areas, the locals pleaded with the national government to intervene so as to ensure there was equity in the food prices across the country.
“We are suffering, some people spend days without eating anything since the majority can no longer afford such food items,” Kambiti resident Mary Katile said.
Kambite village is located in Wamunyu location in Mwala, Machakos County.
The locals spoke to the Star on the sidelines of their training on the budget-making process by a local civil society organization at a church in Wamunyu on Friday.
They said shopkeepers from the interior parts of the county were forced to increase the prices of their items since they spent lots of additional costs transporting their goods from shopping wholesalers located in shopping centers like Wamunyu to their homes.
The majority use boda boda operators to transport the items.
“Some people are better off financially in towns than us here so the government should ensure the prices are controlled,” Katile said.
They urged the Machakos County Government to prioritise tangible projects like the grading of roads as part of solutions to the high inflation of food prices.
Jackson Maundu, a resident from Musoni village said, the prices had made the majority of the locals miserable.
“We are indeed suffering due to the high costs of living especially on food items. Basic needs are no longer basic, but luxuries,” Maundu said.
“We want equity, the national budget should be helpful to all,” Katile said.
Maundu said the situation had been made dire owing to the fact that the drought that ravaged the country previously left them with no farm produce.
He said the government should reduce prices of food items like sugar, cooking oil and maize flour for people not to suffer any longer.
Mbiti Foundation co-founder, Violet Mbiti said the training was meant to empower the locals to be budget champions.
Mbiti said they were experts in matters of public finance and accountability. The over 100 participants were drawn from Machakos County’s 40 wards.
“We have budget champions across the wards and the essence of us having them in Machakos County is to ensure that their voices are heard by policymakers,” Mbiti said.
She said the foundation works at the grassroots level.
“We organise training prior to public participation by the county government on the budget. We bring the vulnerable in the community such as the youth, women, elderly and people living with disabilities who air their issues of concerns,” Mbiti said.
Mbiti said the locals were sensitised on; the county’s Integrated Development Plan 2023 – 2027, Annual Development Plan 2023 – 2024, Finance Bill and Implementation reports.
“We want to ensure that mwananchi can look at the budget that has been prepared by the county executive with regard to the Annual Development Plan," she said.
She told residents to attend and participate in the ongoing devolved government’s public participation exercise across wards so as to ask questions and contribute to the county’s budget-making process for their own benefit.