Nairobi — Incoming Ministry of Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Franklin Linturi has said prices of maize flour will not go down anytime soon unless the Government re-introduces the subsidy programme.

Maize prices have remained high across the country amid a prolonged drought period that has impacted production, pushing up the cost of flour, a staple food in Kenya.

To protect consumers, former President Uhuru Kenyatta introduced a maize floor subsidy initiative to lower prices of floor from about Sh200 to Sh100.

It was later scrapped amid financial challenges.

After taking over the mantle, President William Ruto announced that his administration will no longer support food subsidy programmes but instead focus on production.

"The price of unga... ..(I also) do not think (it) will go down immediately unless government is willing and ready to continue with the subsidy to bring down the cost of unga... ," Linturi was responding to question from Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda while being grilled by the National Assembly's Appointment Committee.

A two-kilo of maize floor, for example, has risen from Sh120 early this year, to Sh198 currently.

"The unga subsidy that was done I was being briefed by the Agriculture Ministry, the taxpayer was asked to give Sh7 billion for one month, the Sh100 packet which was nowhere in the first place," President Ruto said earlier.

Instead, the President said he will focus on subsiding fertilizers to ensure maize production rises.

"If we had spent Sh7 billion in fertilizer, it would have been a very different programme," he said.