President William Ruto has said that his government will not subsidize food products such as maize flour.
Speaking during Kenya Kwanza’s Members of Parliament (MPs) retreat in Naivasha, Ruto said that subsiding consumable products was unsustainable, thus he would not take the move.
The president stated that the government would focus on supporting producers and let the prices of food products stabilize by themselves.
“We are not going to be subsidizing consumption. We are going to work and support producers,” he said.
Read: Ruto Reveals Amount Owed By Government In Pending Bills
He added that the amount used for the subsidies is equivalent to what can be used to strengthen farmers to produce enough food for the country. Ruto also said that the Ksh 7 billion used in subsiding maize flour for one month towards elections achieved nothing.
“The agriculture ministry briefed me that the unga subsidy used for the one month was Ksh. 7 billion. If we had spent the amount on fertilizer, it would be a very different ball game,” he said.
The president also poured cold water on the botched subsidy, saying that most Kenyans never came across the subsidized commodity despite the huge amount of money spent.
Read: Fears Over Fuel Prices As Ruto Hints At Ending Subsidies
The move is expected to course more pain for Kenyans, who have been optimistic that the president would act to help bring the prices of commodities down.
Ruto’s sentiments come in the backdrop of scrapping the fuel subsidy that has seen the price of petroleum products hike.
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