Mombasa retailers hit by flour shortage as shelves remain empty
Retail shops in Mombasa have started experiencing an acute shortage of maize flour with just four days to the general elections. A spot check by the Business Hub established that the subsidised maize flour is not available in most of the retail shops in Mombasa.
The few retailers who have maize flour on their shelves reported that they are now purchasing a bale at Sh1,200 up from Sh 1,050
As a consequence, a two-kilo of unga is still retailing at Sh120 in most of the shops in Kongowea, Bombolulu, and Mkomani areas of Nyali sub-county and as well as parts of Kisauni. Alfred Muli, one of the shop attendants in Nyali, said he had run out of stock for the past two weeks and was yet to receive the supplies he had ordered, until yesterday morning.
“After two weeks, today is when I managed to get a bale of Unga to sell, the suppliers have restricted me to only one bale which is selling at Sh1,200,” he claimed.
According to Muli, for one to receive a bale from suppliers, they must provide a National Identification Card and a KRA PIN. “They totally refused to give me a bale of Unga because I did not have a National ID at the time,” he claimed.
He further said that a few days ago he had an ID but was still denied Unga, suppliers claiming that the stock they had was finished. “They insisted the Unga was finished but I could see some bales in the lorry when I persisted they told me it belonged to someone else,” Muli lamented.
A spot check at most retail shops around Mombasa established that there was a growing demand for maize flour against a limited supply - out of eight shops only three had a bale of Unga.
