Former Laikipia Governor Nderitu Mureithi has blamed the government's oil deal with gulf states for the hike in fuel prices.
Kenya in March signed a deal with Saudi and United Arab Emirates oil companies to supply fuel on credit, a move that was expected to bring down prices and slow down the depreciation of the shilling.
Speaking during Azimio's submissions to the National Dialogue Committee at the Bomas of Kenya, the former governor cited high-interest rates in the government oil deal which is passed to customers.
''On the G-to-G program, it did not address any of the issues on the cost of living, it actually added cost,'' the former governor noted.
The former Governor added that the oil deal interest rates on the LCs and loss in exchange rates had contributed to the high fuel taxation.
''The reason fuel prices in general went up is because of the effect of G-G it is not due to international crude prices and we have demonstrated so to the committee,'' he noted.
The Treasury already paid Ksh35.2 billion ($238.8 million) as part of its obligations to the government-to-government deal agreed between Kenya and Gulf countries.
With the payment already done, another Ksh60 billion payment will be maturing by the end of October.
The government signed deals with Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Corporation Global Trading(ADNOC), and Emirate's National Oil Company (NOC) for the importation of Oil.
Nderitu Mureithi further called out the government for attributing the current inflation to the International crude oil prices.
"We must stimulate production by reducing interest rates, we must reduce taxation on energy, fuel, food, and taxation to SMEs," added Nderitu Mureithi.
He further proposed that the government repeal the Finance Act 2022 in its entirety to enforce the reduction of taxes.
In other submissions witnessing a heated session, the Azimio representatives emphasized with presentations tainting the 2022 election transparency.
Earlier in the day the Kenya Kwanza coalition represented by UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala made their submissions to the committee noting that the 2022 elections were a closed matter.
