Soko Maize meal on display at a Tuskys supermarket. [Photo/ the-star.co.ke]
A court in Wundanyi has released a woman arrested on Wednesday for selling maize flour over and above the Sh90 government marked price.
Alice Ndeda had been arrested and charged for contravening the recent government gazette that pegged maize flour prices at Sh90 per two-kilogramme packet.Wundanyi Resident Magistrate Nicholas Mghenyi released Ms Ndeda and ordered her to return to court for the case’s hearing on July 20.According to prosecution, Ndeda was arrested at her shop in Wundanyi town following a tip off from a resident that the woman running a retail shop was selling maize flour at Sh130.A police officer disguised as a customer went to the shop to buy the product and was charged Sh130.The officer’s colleagues who were at a nearby pub were alerted by the law enforcer who came and arrested her.Ndeda’s arrest adds to the long list of traders already facing prosecution for selling the maize flour over and above the State directed prices for the product that has been scarce for the last three months.Shortly after the gazettement of the prices, two people in Turkana were arrested over the same. The traders, while in court however, argued thatthey buy the maize flour 167 kilometres away and it would make no economic sense to sell it at Sh90 and make losses.Other traders arrested for selling maize flour above the Sh90 mark are from Eldoret, Kapsabet, Machakos and Kapenguria. Ndeda was freed on a Sh100,000 bond.