BY HEZRON OCHIEL and John Muthoni
NAIROBI, KENYA: It is slow business for chicken sellers in Kisumu town as demand for the birds went down for the first time in several years.
A big hen that sold at Sh1,500 on Christmas eve last year now retails at Sh800, while small-sized ones go for Sh400 compared to Sh500 the previous year.
‘‘This Christmas things are different, the business is very bad on our side. Even after slashing our chicken prices, nobody wants to buy still,’’ said Ben Ojuka, a chicken trader at Oile Market.
In the previous years, Ojuka said they cashed in thousands of shillings during the season.
At the fish market, it was the same story as traders slashed prices to attract customers.
Despite the festive season where businesses are known to boom, a kilo of tilapia sells at a constant price of Sh450 and Nile perch of the same quantity sells at Sh480 up by Sh60 the previous week.
In Nairobi, residents jammed supermarkets and retail outlets to make last minute shopping for Christmas celebrations.
Most shoppers indicated that they made a last minute rush because they had just received this month’s pay.
“It is not my wish to shop at this hour but I did not have the money until yesterday (Monday),” said a shopper at a leading supermarket within the city’s Central Business District. Most shoppers indicated that they would be spending the day in Nairobi.
Majority complained of high commodity prices even as supermarkets and retail outlets claimed they had Christmas offers for the customers.
It was the time when families flexed their financial power by purchasing items that are all “Christmas and New Year discounted” for their loved ones.
However, this year due to inflation brought on by Value Added Tax on commodities that did not previously attract the same, Kenyans in major shopping places said they would be parting with more money than the previous years.
