By Willis Oketch
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has warned that the Government will take action against millers who hoard maize.
He said millers were hoarding the grains to increase prices at a later date. Raila assured the public that the Government will press the millers to decrease the price of the flour.
He admitted Kenyans were having hard times but promised the Government was doing all it could to control the high rising cost of the maize flour.
He was speaking at Mvita Health Centre after laying a foundation stone for a Sh16 million proposed maternity hospital.
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He said the Government had waived duty on imported maize to force the price of flour to go down.
Members of Cereal Millers Association, however, complained that they were not getting enough stock to sustain daily milling.
Kitui Flour Millers Ltd managing director Said Bajaber denied claims that they are hoarding maize.
"Nobody is hoarding maize, we mill what we get from traders. We are buying maize at Sh3,850 per bag from middlemen because the National Cereals and Produce Board has refused to sell us maize," said Bajaber.
Price of maize
He said they had increased the price of a packet of maize flour to about Sh123. He expressed doubt tha the prices of maize would go down even with the arrival of imported maize.
"I doubt if the prices will go down because the foreign exchange rate was not good for the importers," he said.
Bajaber asked the Government to issue a gazette notice allowing the millers to import duty free maize.
"We are still waiting for the government to gazette the importation of the maize," said Bajaber.
A check at several millers revealed queues of lorries lining up to off load maize.
