Leaders watch as Tseikuru suffers fuel price hikes

Tseikuru Ward residents are battling with shortage of petrol to power their vehicles. A spot check by Mwingi Times showed that the petrol was going for Sh150 per litre.

The current price by small traders is a jump from the retail price of Sh120 by petrol stations.

The small scale traders include those with motorbike repair shops.

Most petrol stations in Tseikuru are dull and lifeless given there are no vehicles being fueled or maintained. Even car wash business is unheard of or limited.

Usually, the local petrol stations are supplied with petrol by tankers which come to town on Thursdays, the market days.

As residents suffer in silence, local leaders have done nothing to correct the situation.

Inflation

A price hike by petrol leads to steep inflation of related commodities such as basic food crops and transportation costs. Places residents hiked a ride for Sh100 are going for double the amount or even more.

According to Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), selling the fuel for Sh150 is well above the recommended cost. A document obtained by Mwingi Times from their website shows that no petrol is retailing for more than Sh130 even in the furthest flung locations in Kenya such as Lokitaung which goes for Sh123.60.

In Mwingi town, Super petrol should go for Sh117.09 while diesel is retailing at 103.83. Kitui is much cheaper since its Super retails at 116.70 and 103.44 for diesel. Above prices serve from mid-February to mid-March 2021.

Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority is mandated to protect customers against price hikes by business cartels.

“In accordance with legal notice no.196 of 2010, EPRA calculates the maximum retail pump prices of petroleum products which are in force every 15^th of each month” , reads a notice under the Pump Prices regulations on Epra website.

Epra is the successor of Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) under the Energy Act of 2019.

A resident of Kwa Kamari village in Tseikuru ward (Masyungwa location) says that the Super petrol is Sh150. “We have been paying this price from a long time and we buy in local shops”, says the resident who requested anonymity.

Story by MUSYOKA NGUI.