President William Ruto has yet again defended his decision not to subsidise fuel despite its rising cost.
Speaking at State House on Wednesday, Ruto said the move is for the government to take policy interventions that will not be abused, subjected to corruption or diverted.
He gave an example of the subsidised fertiliser programme saying reducing the cost of fertilizer has seen an additional 200,000 acres of farmland put into production.
“We cannot obviously intervene in everything but we intervene in the areas that we believe will give us the highest return on our intervention and an intervention that is targeted,” Ruto said.
“There is no way for example you can target fuel for agricultural production; it becomes a very difficult exercise to target but we can easily target fertiliser because you cannot use fertiliser to do anything else, only to planting.”
After assuming office last September, President Ruto scrapped fuel subsidies.
However, the move came under sharp scrutiny, especially by the Ruto brigade, amid claims it was riddled with graft.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta introduced fuel subsidy to cushion Kenyans from the high cost of living.
The programme ran between October 2021 and September 2022 when President Ruto took over from Uhuru following the August 9, 2022 polls.
Senators have opened an inquiry into the programme after Speaker Amason Kingi cleared a request by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei.
