The government has asked motorists to watch out for unscrupulous fuel retailers out to fleece them of their hard-earned money by selling inferior qualities of petroleum products.
According to Principal Secretary for Petroleum and Mining Andrew Kamau, the retailers take advantage of the lower cost of Kerosene in order to boost volumes in diesel and petrol. This is known as fuel adulteration.
“We have to balance between fighting adulteration and giving access to fuel for the common mwananchi. The risk is that the people who are doing this do not care about Kenyans. They want to make money at any cost," Kamau stated.
Initially, the vice had been reduced to sustainable levels by the government with the introduction of the antiadulteration levy tax that put the kerosene prices at par with that of diesel and petrol.
However, with the recent prices review, petrol is Ksh 25 more expensive than kerosene, creating an opportunity for the vice to come back.
"We can continue to add taxes to kerosene, but as Kenyans, we could also have the citizens agree to expose people adulterating by taking them to the authorities," Kamau stated.
This comes as the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) recently revised the fuel prices pushing the cost of petrol, diesel and kerosene up.
For instance in Nairobi, Super Petrol retails at Ksh 122.81, Diesel at Ksh 107.66 and Kerosene at Kshs.97.85. The previous fuel prices retailed at Ksh 115.18 for Super Petrol, Diesel Ksh 101.91 and Kerosene Ksh 92.44 per litre.
The Authority attributed the rising cost of fuel to the changes in imported fuel prices. This resulted in a public uproar by Kenyans who would have to dig deeper into their pockets in order to pay the cost of fuel.
Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli came out to pressure the government to suspend the revised fuel prices.
"The president should call for the audit of the entire ecosystem around the energy sector and save Kenyans from cartels that have hijacked the energy sector in Kenya,” he stated.
