President William Ruto on Wednesday criticised a section of Kenyans chiding the Kenya Kwanza government over its decision to reintroduce the fuel subsidy just 11 months after its removal.
Defending this reversal, the President clarified that his administration is, in fact, implementing the petroleum levy, a legally sanctioned measure, rather than reverting to the subsidy system established during the Jubilee Administration.
Speaking at the 8th Devolution Conference 2023 in Uasin Gishu County, the President reiterated his government's unwavering commitment to avoiding additional loans. He expressed concern that increasing borrowing will deepen Kenya's debt burden, hindering the government from realising its agenda.
"We will not go back to subsidies of any nature that distort things and cause us a lot of unnecessary leakages," Ruto noted.
The President also took a swipe at the media, lamenting over coverage of the matter, claiming that the fourth estate has in fact been misreporting the issue.
“We are making prudent and proper use of the petroleum development levy that is provided for in the law. It is meant to develop the petroleum industry and it is meant to stabilise petroleum prices whenever we have unintended hikes,” Ruto remarked.
"On the subject of debt, I have made myself very clear - we are going to do more saving, we are going to raise local revenue in counties and stop corruption so that we have the money to run our show."
As a stern warning to elected leaders, Ruto noted that his administration was not going to spare any corrupt leaders found culpable.
President William Ruto's administration reintroduced the fuel subsidy during the latest price review for the August - September period.
According to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), the subsidy was reintroduced to cushion Kenyans from the impacts of increased fuel landing costs.
The landing cost of Super Petrol increased by 6.84 per cent in the last month, while that of Diesel and Kerosene increased by 4.29 and 7.41 per cent respectively.
President capped his remarks by congratulating the United States Ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman, for their commitment to the development of the country.
