Be patient, fuel prices will soon drop — MP Wahome

As many Kenyans complain about high fuel costs, Kandara MP Alice Wahome has appealed for patience and perseverance.

The MP, a staunch supporter of President William Ruto, said the new administration could no longer continue paying the fuel subsidy as its coffers were near empty.

She was speaking at Makenji Primary School on Thursday while commissioning the newly renovated classrooms.

The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority on Wednesday announced new prices, dropping subsidies. Petrol will retail at Sh179.30 per litre ,while diesel will sell at Sh165 per litre.

The price of kerosene also increased by Sh20 to retail at Sh147.94.

The new prices will be in force from September 15 to October 14 this year.

The new prices have seen players in the transport industry hike prices with travellers from Murang’a to Nairobi expected to pay Sh300, up from Sh250.

Those traveling to Thika from Murang’a will now be paying Sh200, an increase of Sh50.

This has further aggravated the cost of living for a majority of Kenyans who have been struggling to put food on their tables.

But the MP said though a Sh20 increase per litre of fuel is huge, Kenyans should be a little patient as the government needs time to consolidate funds to implement its promises and the prices will eventually subside.

Wahome, however, noted that the fuel subsidy was not completely eradicated and a part of it was retained to cushion diesel prices from a dramatic rise.

She said poor governance and uncontrollable factors such as the war in Ukraine are to blame for the high cost of living.

“But now we are trying to streamline government’s operations and I am sure the other factors will slowly come to an end, we are hopeful that the situation will get better. We have to accept that we need to make money to get our country where it used to be," she said.

“We can see there is a lot of goodwill from Kenyans as they want to partner in developing our country and we will be able to pay our taxes to get the government back in line,” she added.

Wahome, however, underscored that Ruto’s administration will not result in harassing traders to pay taxes as was witnessed in the previous government where businesses were closed down.

“You cannot kill the goose that gives you golden eggs,” she said.

She urged Kenyans to remain hopeful even as they wait for the prices of commodities to go down.

Wahome lauded the government for taking steps to procure cheap fertiliser that will benefit more than 6 million farmers.

The fertiliser will retail at Sh3,500 per bag from next week and is expected to benefit Kenyans in the coming short rains and the long rains in April next year.

Previously, farmers paid more than Sh6,000 for a bag of fertiliser.

(Edited by Tabnacha O)