John Munyes, the Cabinet Secretary for Ministry of Mining and Petroleum, told Parliament that his ministry was in the process of crafting regulations on diesel subsidy that will later be taken before the legislators for consideration.
The new regulations will give CS Munyes authority to subsidise diesel prices and cushion motorists from sharp spikes in the cost of the product.
The move came a few days after Kenyans came out to protest the latest hike in fuel prices that saw the price of petrol rise to Ksh122.81, Diesel to Kshs.107.66 and Kerosene to Kshs.97.85 (in Nairobi).
“We will fast-track and then have them, I commit to deliver them to Parliament by end of April. Let us give it one month of the process, we are promising one month,” Munyes stated.
Under the subsidy, motorists and businesses will not bear costs of diesel prices above 50USD (Sh5,447.50) per barrel as the country races to protect Kenyans against the rise in global oil prices.
The levy was increased to ksh5.40 a litre in July from Sh0.40 representing a 1,250 percent rise.
Kenyans will then be invited to give their views on the proposed regulations in line with the law before they are returned to Parliament for debate and passing into law.
Crude oil prices crossed the $50 per barrel in January and rose to $61.61 in February leading to the record rise in the cost of diesel and petrol.
Meanwhile, in the same sitting, the CS had warned Kenyans to brace themselves for higher fuel prices in the coming months.
The CS who was addressing the Senate Energy Committee said that for now there would be no relief from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Body (EPRA) review prices due to higher taxes and levies.
“Kenya charges the highest taxes on fuel regionally. Taxes and levies are the biggest contributors to the prices. As global oil prices escalate we expect the prices in Kenya to increase,” Munyes said.
In addition, the CS said that EPRA was developing a regulation mechanism in which the Petroleum Consolidated Fund which would be operationalized in a bid to stabilize fuel prices in the future.
According to the CS, the government was planning to task the National Oil with the mandate of storing fuel so that the government buys it when the prices have gone down.
