Hello and welcome to the Evening Brief Newsletter where things are on an up and up.
Housekeeping: If you are getting these emails in your promotions tab, drag and drop the title to your primary tab to ensure you don't miss future dispatches.
Also, an edition of this newsletter appears on Kenyans.co.ke LinkedIn page, if your wish to get future editions in your email inbox, subscribe here.
Wobbly Prices
President William Ruto's recent downward spiral of fuel prices has been threatened by Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen's months-long push for an increase in the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) contributions.
For every litre of diesel or petrol purchased, Ksh18 is paid as a fee to the fund which is used to maintain and upgrade all roads across the country.
During his appearance before Senators on Wednesday, Murkomen advocated for the fee's increase to Ksh22 per litre.
Murkomen's Big Argument: "I'm working on a Cabinet memo to think of how else we can do what we need to do including tolling. We have proposed the RMLF should be increased to Ksh22 per litre by the year 2025 if we're going to breach the gap in place."
Justification: The CS revealed that the fee had not been raised for eight years despite a worsening economy. Murkomen also argued that the Ministry was crippled by pending bills estimated at Ksh700 billion.
"The steady decline in the purchasing power of the fuel levy collection means that there's a growing backlog of maintenance activities that ought to be done but instead were postponed and deferred," he explained.
"Specifically, the projection resource need for RML for the financial year 2024/25 is Ksh110 billion while the anticipated collection of that same year is Ksh69 billion, a shortfall of about Ksh40 billion."
Catch Up Quick: President William Ruto has recently appeared upbeat in public promising that his goal to lower the cost of living was finally panning out.
On March 14, he promised that the fuel price would drop by a wider margin, and true to his word, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) lowered petrol prices by Ksh7.
The Numbers: In Nairobi, Super Petrol, Diesel, and Kerosene will now retail at Ksh199.15, Ksh190.38, and Ksh188.74 effective midnight.
In Mombasa, a litre of Petrol will retail at Ksh195.97 while Kerosene will retail at Ksh187.21. Kerosene is Ksh185.58.
The Complication: Murkomen's push is likely to scuttle the trajectory if implemented. It is projected that the fuel price will go up by up to Ksh4 per litre.
(Check our Data Point today for the behaviour of fuel prices in the last six months.)
Data Point: Drop in Fuel Price
After spiraling upwards following President William Ruto's ascension to the House on the Hill, the price of fuel has seen a consistent drop in the last six months.
The Numbers: in October last year, the price of petrol ascended to its highest point of Ksh217.36 per litre which has dropped to below Ksh200 for the first time in over a year.
The trajectory is similar for both diesel and kerosene.
Guaranteed Jail Term
Kenyans will risk jail terms for agreeing to be guarantors of applicants for the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) loan if the HELB Amendment Bill 2022 is approved.
The National Assembly Committee on Education is preparing to table a report that introduces a Ksh10,000 fine or jail term of three years should guarantors ignore reminders to settle the loans.
Historically, guarantors often guarantee loans issued to students at a lower than industry standard interest rate and the guarantor acts as security should the student default.
In the revised provision, if a guarantor is notified of payment and either fails or declines to repay the loan and interest, the guarantor shall be guilty of an offence.
What the Bill Says: "Any person guilty of an offence under this Act shall, where no other penalty is prescribed, be liable to a fine not exceeding Ksh10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years."
Catch Up Quick: For years, the Board had lamented that a majority of beneficiaries turn a blind eye to refunding their loans making it untenable for younger generations to get the much-needed funding.
Data from the board shows that as of 2022, 94,216 had defaulted on their loans with total uncollected money topping Ksh10 billion.
Kenyans, however, lamented that the interest was too high with an individual who borrowed Ksh82,980 in 2004 had accrued Ksh540,464 in 2016.
Here are 5 other stories we are keeping tabs on today;
1.The United States contemplates sending its troops to tackle the worsening Haiti situation as Kenya continues to delay its deployment.
2. Kenya Shilling continues to perform exemplary against the dollar as cash inflows in the tea sector shoot up.
3. PS Charles Hinga reveals that two-bedroom houses are selling like hotcakes in the Affordable Housing project.
4. Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has sued the Standard Group demanding Ksh100 million.
5. The government turns to a Ksh400 million end-to-end system for procurement services across state agencies named the e-GP system.
This newsletter was written by Derrick Kubasu and edited by Brian Muuo.
Washington Mito contributed to the content.
Graphics prepared by Adongo Kyalo
