Brand exodus

By Bantaleo Muhindi/Otiato Guguyu

As inflation spirals and hits the 14.5 per cent mark Anne Khatenje, a secondary school teacher, walks into a super market in Busia town. With a list of items,  the 47 year old teacher makes for soap at a shelf.

Momentarily, she stares in space. Ostensibly puzzled and not believing her eyes, the mathematics teacher counterchecks what she has on her list of items as the price of the bar soap she has always purchased and used in her house has risen.

Upon learning that the price of the bar soap has almost doubled in the last two month, she goes round the super market only to learn that prices of virtually all items inflated. The teacher is lost for words but is compelled to adjust her budget.

Another shopper, Lucy Akundah, at the same supermarket, concedes that escalation of prices has changed dearly the brands she used to go for. “Tough times call for tough measures,” she says, adding, “I go for prices hands down.”

An avalanche of consumers are rushing for lower quality but cheaper goods by the day as attested by the rising trend of victims fatally succumbing to brews in Central Kenya and Nairobi.

The recent green light to millers to import GMO to help arrest the rising deficit in national cereals extrapolates the situation. Whereas the government allowed this on condition that they outrightly  indicate the maize is GMO the risk is that with the current market trend which is so centered on price may not put that into consideration.

The unabated shortage of maize, coupled with inflation which has, subsequently, contributed to high cost of living have driven some Kenyans into opting for alternatives of major brands.

They actually opt for lower quality and cheap items. While they do so, they are ignorant of how the products they purchase will affect them.

Whereas soap may not have an adverse effect on someone’s health, the recent revelation by Roy Mugira of National Safety Authority to approve importation of GMO to mitigate looming shortage should in itself be food for thought.

Should Kenyans purchase products cheaply notwithstanding the effect they have on their health?

Though the gains of the purchase may be immediate the long term effect on consumers of some of the products may be adverse. It could be debilitating.

The guidelines on importation of GM to be issued by Mr Mugira should be borne out of critical and analytical mind. They should not be the type that benefit millers who will buy the GMO maize at about 70 per cent of the price of the locally produced maize and sell it at exorbitantly.

Doubtless, it is the kill that millers are out to make which makes them support the importation of GMO immediately. No wonder chairman of Cereals millers Association, Diamond Lalji, says, “Bio tech is the way we should go and it will help us overcome shortages of maize.”

“GM maize is cheaper by about 30 per cent compared to the non GM and that is expected to bring down the price of the final product,” he adds.

It is on the premise that scores of Kenyans mire in poverty, are desperate, gullible and that ours is a man eat man society that rigorous sensitization should be conducted prior to implementation of some decisions.

Through education and sensitization stakeholders, consumers inclusive, will be empowered to look beyond prices and make informed choice instead of buying what is cheap today and expensive tomorrow.

Purchasing goods, especially those that may impact on health, calls for a second thought from consumers.  The price-consideration-only thinking should be discarded.

Safety of some GMOs is debatable. The status quo of the Kenyan economy is an eerie harbinger of tougher times economically and socially. This is why all GMO products should be re-examined by experts.

Brand exodus to poor quality alternatives also needs re-examination lest the nation slides to a health precipice. Though the economy mauls the consumers’ pockets the latter should not be exposed to health risks.