President William Ruto has assured Kenyans that his government is working on reducing sugar prices in a period of two weeks.

Addressing the nation on Wednesday August 2, Ruto acknowledged that indeed sugar Prices have skyrocketed since he took power a year ago.

The head of state attributed the high sugar Prices to shortage of cane both in the Kenyan and COMESA markets. This has forced some sugar processing factories to shut down causing sugar shortage that is being witnessed in the country.

“We have had confusion and chaos in the whole sugar subsector. The reason why many companies have closed shop temporarily is because there is no cane to harvest,” Ruto said.

He further explained that the government has been reluctant to import sugar to cushion Kenyans  because he did not want to hurt local cane farmers and sugar factories.

However following the unbearable price of sugar in the country now, the head of state said that he made the decision to allow and license some companies to import cane and sugar outside COMESA countries.

“We have been reluctant to import sugar to avoid working against our farmers, but now, in the next two weeks, you will see a difference as we have ordered imports from outside the COMESA market,” he added.

The Kenya Kwanza regime took power when a 2kg packet of sugar was between 280 to 300 shillings, right now the same packet goes for between 490- 510 shillings depending on the brand.

Middle and low income families have since resorted to using other alternatives as Sweeteners.

A report by a local TV station indicated some Kenyans turned to using jaggery popularly known as Sukari Nguru for sweetening their tea and porridge.

“I have tried giving my children porridge without sugar, but they wouldn’t touch it. So, I use sukari nguru,” a Kenyan citizen revealed.