Deputy President William Ruto waded into the fuel crisis and said graft cartels in the fuel industry were responsible for the crisis gripping the nation.
He said the Treasury illegally diverted Sh39 billion from the Petroleum Development Fund that had been set aside to pay oil marketing firms' fuel subsidy.
He said Auditor General Nancy Gathungu raised queries about the irregular and illegal diversion of the consumer protection funds to state agencies and unnamed private entities.
"She also decried abuses of the petroleum import systems in favour of some preferred and politically connected oil marketers," Ruto said.
Speaking at his Karen offices, Ruto said the Energy ministry diverted the monies to service debts and fund infrastructure projects without the approval of the National Assembly.
"Can the ministry list the import quotas that have been allocated to oil marketers over the last one year, by name?" he asked.
The DP, a presidential aspirant, said the current state of affairs is a manifestation of the “vestiges of conflict of interest and state capture” now present in all sectors of the economy.
“This is why in the midst of this distressing crisis, the loudest messages from the public officials, including ministers, are centred around BBI and Azimio jingle bells and whistles,” he said.
Kenya Kwanza leaders called on the National Treasury to account for the alleged diversions of funds from the Petroleum Development Fund and restore the fuel subsidy mechanism immediately.
“We demand that public officials responsible listen to the agonised cries of millions of suffering Kenyans and do something about the rapidly deepening economic crisis,” Ruto said.
He said millions of Kenyans are bewildered and in pain as fuel pumps run dry and queues grow longer due to this "artificial shortage", which has already disrupted the transport sector
“The Petroleum Products (Taxes and Levies) Amendment Bill 2021 whose passage has been frustrated should be processed in Parliament as a matter of national emergency,” Ruto added.
He said the high fuel prices are not due to ordinary market responses to global crude oil dynamics.
He questioned why there has not been any fertiliser subsidy allocation in the budget in the last three years, including in last week’s Supplementary Estimates.
He accused the Ministry of Agriculture of engaging in public relation stunts by saying it is providing subsidised fertiliser this planting season.
“This is not only ridiculous but absurd. How do you make a farmer who needs 1,000 bags queue for hours only to get 10 bags in a widely publicised launch,” Ruto asked.
He said cooking gas that was retailing at Sh2,300 in February is now sold at Sh3,500.
“The price of 10 litres of cooking oil was Sh1,450 but now is Sh3,100 and, as already stated, fuel shot up from Sh135 per litre of petrol to between Sh150 and Sh205.”
(Edited by V. Graham)
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