Former Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama has said that opposition leader Raila Odinga is to blame for the skyrocketing food prices in the country.
Muthama, who is also the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) chairman argued that the prices of items started to skyrocket immediately after the former prime minister shook hands with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“The prices of items skyrocketed immediately after handshake to a point where common man cannot afford,
“We can’t continue having a country where a small group of people lives in comfort while the majority can’t afford to feed themselves,” Muthama said in a Tweet seen by Kivumbi.co.ke.
Muthama who is eying the Machakos gubernatorial seat in the August 9, General Election said Raila forgot his responsibility to criticize the government whenever it increases the price of goods since he joined the government.
He cited that prior to the truce between ODM leader Raila Odinga and the head of state, a 50kg of fertilizer bag was retailing at KSh 2,500 against the current price of KSh 6,000.
A two-kilogram packet of maize flour is now retailing at KSh160 from KSh 90 while a kilo of sugar goes at KSh140 up from KSh 90 across major supermarkets in the country.
The price of cooking gas, cooking oil, and bread has also increased by a significant margin.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly consumer price index, grocery prices were up by 7.4 percent over the past year. The inflation rate is at a 40-year high.
While Muthama links the skyrocketing food prices to the lack of a strong opposition leader, economists have linked the lingering pandemic economy, with its supply chain delays and labor shortages as some of the factors driving up costs for transportation, agricultural commodities, packaging which in turn make the prices to go up.
