WAWERU: It's boiling noodles, fighting with parents to survive

The high cost of fuel has led to increased transport costs and therefore, a rise in the cost of products, especially food and other services.

This has led to a burdensome situation in the country and has put a weighty strain on everyone, especially campus students, who are largely dependent.

Being a campus student in this economy is not at all easy.

It's boiling noodles, going for unpaid internships and fighting with parents who expect you to survive on Sh2,000 for a whole month.

It is tough, but since there is nothing we can do about it, the common adage, it is what it is keeps us going.

When it rains, it pours.

Conditions have become even more gruesome during the electioneering period.

Most retailers hoard their products as they are unsure of the political and economic situation after the forthcoming elections.

Most of them hope for the best but prepare for the worst because, well, whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time.

For instance, in July, Kenyans on Twitter went into a frenzy to protest the high cost of maize flour which is the staple food for the majority of Kenyans.

To calm their qualms, the President instructed all retailers to lower the price of maize flour from Sh230 to Sh100.

This was incredible news to Kenyans particularly students, since to us, Sh230 is quite a lot.

Spending less than Sh130 on maize flour was going to fix a whole week’s budget.

Now that unga has been made cheaper, we can stock up before the elections. 

However, some sellers across the country still retail a packet of maize flour at the price of over Sh200.

They claim to have bought the flour at very high prices so they have to sell it at even higher prices to make profits.

They have to exhaust their stock of expensive flour before they can start selling at the standardised price of Sh100.

Of course, this is terrible, but as one seller put it, the government is not distributing the unga.

Unga is not the only product whose price skyrocketed. The cost of almost every other product has increased drastically and it is impossible to live under the same standards we did two months ago with the same amount of money.

It has become increasingly difficult for students on campus to feed themselves adequately.

Terms such as lunch have become unheard of.

To most students, the general election is a good opportunity to go home and feed well.

As a result, many students have resorted to doing odd menial jobs as part-time employees or having small start-up businesses to sustain themselves.

Others, however, have turned to criminal activities like robbery, selling illegal substances and looking for ‘sponsors.’

At this rate, the situation in the country will only get worse.

Gone are the days when we would look up to ‘serikali’ for help. It finally dawned on us that the government will not come to our aid.

Despite all this, you cannot abandon your home because it is raining.

It rains everywhere. And since it is what it is, we can only hope that the next government will make life better especially for comrades.

Student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

 

Edited by Kiilu Damaris

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