President William Ruto on Monday, August 14, in a major reinstated fuel subsidy U-turn as it moved to cushion consumers from skyrocketing pump prices.
This comes barely three months after the Kenya Kwanza government scrapped fuel subsidy claiming it was only benefiting “cartels”.
Following the subsidy, one Kenyan took to social media asking why the government had reinstated the subsidy on fuel despite having scrapped the program which was introduced by retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“Why are fuel subsidies back?” the user identified as common mwananchi posed.
In a quick rejoinder, economist David Ndii immediately told off those critiquing the government’s planning to make a U-tern.
Ndii, who is also the Chairperson of President William Ruto’s Council of Economic Adviser (CEA) in a statement said they reinstated fuel subsidies because the Kenya Kwanza government had sealed all lope holes and that the country was no longer losing money to cartels.
“Maybe because we are not stealing the money,” David Ndii said in a Tweet seen by Kivumbi.co.ke.
While confirming the subsidy, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) announced that the government had opted to stabilize pump prices for the August-September cycle.
“In order to cushion consumers from the spike in pump prices as a consequence of the increased landed costs, the government has opted to stabilize pump prices for the August-September pricing cycle,” the regulator said in a statement.
The subsidy will see the price of petrol, diesel, and kerosene remain unchanged to September 2023.
This means that the government will subsidize petrol for Ksh7.33, diesel for Ksh3.59, and kerosene for Ksh5.74 from Tuesday.
