With only few days remaining to Christmas day, prices of basic commodities like bananas, cassava flour, rice and others have already increased leaving locals in Kyenjojo district worried about how they will survive. 

“A kilo of cassava flour is now at 3000, rice is at 5000, salt is 1000 and soap is at 2000 shillings, this is a lot for us and we can nolonger afford.’’
“With all these prices high, we are not looking at celebrating xmas and where we work, our salaries have not been increased.’’

The failure by the employers to even pay them in time according to them is making the situation worse.
Most of the locals in the district work in the tea plantations and tea factories and these say the factories are paying them pea nuts amidst the sky rocketing prices.
“All those that we were buying cheaply are now at high prices, even when prices are high, the commodities are nowhere to be seen, with your money, you may end up sleeping hungry, we ask gov’t to do something.’’

Tahata Anatoli, the chairperson for Kasamba Byara village in Kasamba parish Bugaki sub county says the residents will instead resort to the sweet potatoes and irish that they plant as opposed to buying bananas from the markets whose prices have gone to as high as 50,000 shillings.
“This xmas we shall instead eat sweet potatoes and cassava because these are the ones we plant, we can nolonger afford to buy meat and rice which are very expensive.’’

To solve the problem, the Audray Youth and Child Care Foundation has donated household materials to the residents of Kasamba Byara in Kyenjojo district to enable them celebrate Christmas.

The household materials included food, clothes, soap among others.

The materials were mostly distributed to the vulnerable families who according to the foundation have been hit hard by the increasing commodity prices.
According to Audray Ampaire, the foundation founder, by doing so, they are giving hope to the people amidst the economic challenges in the festive season.