Siasa Za Unga wa Ugali...Mafisadi Wapandisha Bei?

[Ab-Titchaz]

Alarm Over Shortage And Cost Of Maize Flour ​

By LUCAS BARASA and OLIVER MATHENGE
Posted Sunday, November 23 2008 at 22:39

An acute shortage of maize flour is looming in the country after its cost doubled in the past one week and shops started rationing the commodity.

On Sunday, shortage of the staple, retailing at Sh120 per packet, started to bite across the country.

In December last year, a two-kilogramme packet of maize flour cost Sh48. Last week, the packet was being sold for between Sh80 and Sh85.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday blamed the shortage on poor harvests and high food prices in the international market.

The minister for Agriculture, Mr William Ruto, said the shortage was artificial and blamed millers whom he accused of refusing to buy maize directly from farmers.

However, Kenya Association of Manufacturers chairman Vimal Shah said there was no maize in the market. He asked the Government to allow millers to import maize to reduce the shortage.

Even as the Government and millers differed over who was to blame for the shortage, a consumer organisation has called for the introduction of price controls to ensure that the flour, which is used to make the staple ugali meal, remains affordable to the poor.

About 46 per cent of Kenyans live on less than Sh140 a day, which means they can barely afford to buy a packet of maize flour.

“We know it is a free market economy, but there should be a mechanism to ensure consumers do not continue to be exploited,” said Ms Dorcas Kamunya of Consumer Information Network.

Rationing

In Nairobi, some supermarkets were rationing the number of packets that their customers could buy. In one supermarket, customers were not allowed to buy more than five packets.

In other parts of the country, consumers rushed to buy and stock the staple in anticipation of a further shortage.

Major outlets in the city told the Nation that there has been a low supply of the product over the last few days.

A spot-check at Nakumatt Supermarket branches in Nairobi revealed that the largest chain-store in the country had no maize flour.

Nakumatt Holdings operations director Thiagarajan Ramamurthy said millers who supply the chain had no maize to produce flour. He, however, said some of the millers had promised to make some deliveries on Monday.

At Woolmart Supermarkets, customers were asked not to pick more than five packets of the product.

In Kakamega, shoppers at Walias Supermarket were restricted to buying a maximum of three packets.

And in Nyeri South District, officials at Aberdares Flour Millers said they were shopping for maize in Kitale because most farmers in the region experienced low harvests this season.

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/...i/-/index.html

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Leaders’ Cartel Blamed For Maize Shortage ​

By OLIVER MATHENGE and LUCAS BARASA
Posted Monday, November 24 2008 at 22:00

A racket involving senior politicians and businessmen has been blamed for the artificial shortage of maize and maize flour that has hit many parts of the country.

Investigations by the Nation indicate that the politicians have been buying maize from the cereals board and selling it to millers at exorbitant prices.

Letters from the Ministry of Agriculture are being used by the cartel to authorise the purchase of maize from the National Cereals and Produce Board. The cartel later resells the maize to millers at a higher price.

The shortage of maize has seen the price of the staple maize meal shoot from an average Sh85 a week ago to Sh120 for the two-kg packet.

Dubious deals

Sources have revealed that those in the cartel, including a number of MPs, have made millions of shillings from the dubious deals.

On Monday, Prime Minister Raila Odinga held a crisis meeting with a Cabinet sub-committee on food security where they decided that middlemen be pushed out of the maize business.

Fears are also emerging that the cartel has been engaging in similar dealings for sugar and fertiliser, whose prices have been on the increase since the beginning of the year.

The politicians and businessmen are said to be buying a 90-kg bag of maize at Sh1,700 and selling it to the millers at between Sh2,200 and Sh2,700.

It is, however, believed that the politicians are not using their money in the shady deals. Instead, they have been acting as brokers.

According to one reliable source, several associates of the politicians showed up three weeks ago at the cereals board depots with letters authorising them to buy 25,000 bags of maize each.

After the dubious deal, each of the politicians earned between Sh12.5 million and Sh25 million depending on the price at which they sold the maize.

The price of maize flour has shot up by up to 50 per cent in the recent past to retail at Sh120. Millers have warned of an acute shortage of the product that was selling at between Sh80 and Sh85 only a week ago.

The millers have blamed the shortage on lack of maize in the market.

The shortage led to a crisis meeting of trustees of the National Cereals and Produce Board that was chaired by Special Programmes PS Ali Mohammed.

The meeting, according to the PS, came after the media reported a sharp rise in the cost of maize flour.

National Cereals Board managing director Gideon Misoi, Finance permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua and his Agriculture counterpart, Mr Romano Kiome, attended the meeting.

According to Mr Mohammed, the meeting was meant to find out how the Government could intervene to end the shortage.

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/...4/-/index.html

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

A supermarket attendant arranges maize flour on empty shelves. There has been a looming maize flour shortage for the past few days and prices have shot up.

A customer gestures after finding empty shelves lacking maize flour at a local supermarket. There has been a looming maize flour shortage for the past few days and prices have shot up.

Simon Akumu holds a packet of maize flour at a shop where the price per packet has shot up from KSh 87 to KSh 125.

A supermarket attendant takes stock of available maize flour at a local supermarket. There has been a looming maize flour shortage for the past few days and prices have shot up.

​

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Hii noma sana Unga wa Ugali kuuzwa 120Ksh!!!!

Kwa wale mliopata fursa ya kusoma The French Revolution, hapa nd'o Malkia Maria Antoinnette, angesema "If they cant have 'Ugali", then let them eat cakes"... kwa vile hamna Unga wa ugali lakini wa ngano unapatikana.While all this is going on Rais wa nchi ameuchuna tu...nadhani wanakula chapati huko Ikulu.

Kenyan politicians are known or killing their own Industries by importing goods that the local farmers are producing.They then horde local produce and inflate the prices of what they have imported for maximum profits.

 

[The Truth]

Similar fate awaits Americans under Obantu. This Obantu's recession is only beginning. Just wait until it really gets going.

 

[Jasusi]

Similar fate awaits Americans under Obantu. This Obantu's recession is only beginning. Just wait until it really gets going.

It has now become Obama's recession? The guy has not put foot in the White House yet. You must be listening to too much Rush Limbaugh. Losers both of ya!

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

duh!? ama kweli wewe chizi...

Lakini hakushindi wewe........

 

[The Truth]

It has now become Obama's recession? The guy has not put foot in the White House yet. You must be listening to too much Rush Limbaugh. Losers both of ya!

It doesn't matter if he has not put foot in the White House. Why did the stock market have the biggest post election drop after Obantu was elected? People are cashing in on their assets before Obantu raises their capital gains taxes, income taxes, business taxes and implement massive government spending. The Obantu recession is in full gear my friend.

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Similar fate awaits Americans under Obantu. This Obantu's recession is only beginning. Just wait until it really gets going.

What does this thread have to do with Obama/Americans?

Your obsession with the man is so evident such that you
will go at all lengths to twist anything and give it an
Obama angle....For what may I ask?

 

[zomba]

Unga wa ugali? BS! unga, unga, unga. mbona hatuongelei unga wa kweli au wengi humu ni wadau?