Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi on Sunday opined that the recent fuel hike is a government's scheme likely to be beneficial to the country, contrary to many people's belief.
Through his Twitter handle, the lawyer noted: "Jubilee government is run by political genius and economic gurus".
"With 16%VAT on fuel, a litre of petrol retailing at between Ksh130 and Ksh140, traffic jams will be history,"Ahmednasir highlighted the first benefit.
The driving patterns in the country denote impulsive expenditure where more private cars take to the roads during end month and in periods of greater cash supply and significantly reduce during school holidays and whenever there is cash crunch.
Besides, the Senior Counsel noted that fuel price increase will reduce the bribes handed out to police.
This is likely informed by the fact that bribing traffic police is a personal initiative where drivers give out the bribes even when having not committed any traffic offence. Tighter budgets would mean less initiative to dish out bribes.
Thirdly, the lawyer indicated that higher cost of fuel is likely to see the number of accidents on the roads decrease.
Many accidents are associated with drunk-driving which often happens during weekends and month-end. Higher fuel costs mean less cash and consequently less drunk-driving incidences.
Ahmednasir further indicated that the fuel price hike will reduce the matatu menace - a common fact in many city roads.
Matatus are unknown to be unruly during major holidays such as Christmas and during rush hours as they rush to capitalize to meet the law of demand and supply.
However, the higher fuel prices will likely see the fare prices equally skyrocketing hence reducing citizens' ability to travel. Fewer commuters will see the matatus have less incentive to cause havoc on the roads.
Lastly, according to the lawyer, higher fuel prices will enable the country to repay Chinese loans from the revenue generated through the 16%VAT levied.
