Fuel suppliers strike triggers shortages, long lines at petrol stations in Kenya
Long queues, frustrated drivers and outraged commuters defined the second day of the strike by a section of fuel suppliers protesting the 16 percent Value Added Tax on petroleum products.
The strike has triggered a fuel shortage, which now threatens to grind critical services to a halt, as most petrol stations stayed dry while those with the product limited motorists to between Sh1,000 and Sh200 worth of oil.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) made good it’s threat to cancel the licence of the Kenya Independent Petroleum Distributors Association (Kipeda), whose trucks had blocked major city fuel depots to prevent other suppliers from picking the product.
The ERC maintained that Kipeda Holdings Ltd’s operations will remain suspended until the strike is called off.
Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau, who had unsuccessfully tried to intervene on Wednesday afternoon, said the government had started providing security for other trucks willing to pick product from the major depots to avert a crisis.
Kipeda officials are said to have shouted at the soft-spoken Principal Secretary demanding that the VAT on fuel be reversed before they allow any truck to pick fuel for distribution to the stations.
“The strike only made impact because they were threatening other drivers, which is very immature since even the President whom they are asking to sign the amendment on the bill to postpone the tax is not yet back in the country. Why are they preventing those who want to work?” an enraged Mr Kamau told the Nation by telephone.
Others pushed their stalled cars to the petrol stations only to be told there was no more fuel available.
Motorists were enraged by the lack of fuel, whose price had soared after the 16 percent VAT, which MPs had tried to postpone by two years, took effect from September 1.
Consumer Federation of Kenya secretary-general Stephen Mutoro said the shortage was a double pain for motorists and commuters already facing tough times after the price rise last weekend.
The consumer lobbyist called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to help break the stalemate by signing the Finance Bill 2018 into law and crack the whip on senior officers in his Government who bear the greatest responsibility for fuel crisis witnessed since Tuesday evening.
In January 2017, a similar shortage scenario played out after petroleum distributors protested implementation of a law prescribing fuel transit time limits persist.
