A recent statement by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader, Raila Odinga, on the price of fuel has elicited mixed reactions from different political factions.
Speaking in Bungoma on Saturday, October 2, Raila, who is contesting for the country's top seat for the fifth time in 2022, intimated that the prices of fuel will go down in the next one week.
The former Prime Minister, who is seen as President Uhuru Kenyatta's preferred candidate, noted that steps were being taken to reduce the escalating prices of fossil fuels.
On Sunday, October 3, businessman Jimi Wanjigi, while addressing the media after a church service in Makupa, Mombasa, questioned Raila's role in the government.
“It seems Raila has information that we all do not have, we hope he is correct as it seems the government is either with him or in him, we do not know which,” Wanjigi stated.
Wanjigi intimated that Raila was now an insider in the government with access to privileged information.
The businessman who has vowed to wrestle the ODM flagbearer ticket from Raila in the party's nominations, says the former Prime Minister should made public the details of the plan to reduce the fuel prices.
Besides this, Wanjigi went on the offensive rubbishing the government directive that all cargo must be transported by the Standard Gauge Railway from the port of Mombasa to the Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Nairobi.
He said the directive is wrong as it created friction between the people of Mombasa and the government and led to a massive loss of jobs.
Wanjigi noted that the policy by the name Take and Pay requires that all cargo must first go to the Embakasi ICD even if the final destination of the goods is Mombasa.
“This move has taken away an estimate of 40,000 jobs, 8,000 directly and the rest indirectly,” he noted.
He also added that the transport, container depos, freight stations and clearing and shipping made up 37.2 per cent of the Mombasa economy with an estimated value of Ksh122 billion.
He asked Raila to help the people of Mombasa as he also holds knowledge on the future of fuel prices.
“Since Raila has the capacity to predict the price of fuel coming down we would like him to insist that his handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta must remove the take or pay policy,” Wanjigi stated.
Wanjigi also commented on an increase in debt ceiling that he believes is on the course of increment in the near future.
The businessman also asked his party leader to check into the matter and give instructions to his party legislators not to approve the bill once tabled in Parliament.
