Life becomes unbearable as fuel shortage bites

Long, twisting queues were on Tuesday seen in just about every town as the anxiety sparked off by the fuel crisis jolted motorists and boda boda riders into a desperate search for petrol.

Most petrol stations across the country were characterised by long queues of motorists waiting for the commodity.

Spot checks by the Star showed that few petrol stations had the commodity.

In some stations, police officers moved in to ensure law and order.

Some motorists patiently waited in long queues armed with jerrycans.

In Nairobi, a handful of stations had fuel, attracting traffic jams that stretched for kilometres.

“We receive few litres of fuel that motorists scramble to get,” an attendant at a Shell petrol station in Nairobi said.

The attendant, who requested not to be named because he is not allowed to talk to the media, said during the good days when supply was not interrupted they would get 9,000 litres daily.

Nowadays, they get 7,000 litres if lucky.

The attendant said some of the oil marketers might be hoarding the commodity in anticipation that the prices will increase during the upcoming review on Thursday.

At the station, petrol was going for Sh 134.70 per litre and diesel Sh115.60 per litre.

Some stations remain idle for lack of the commodity.

There was a long queue at Rubis station along Koinange Street. Police worked to ensure order among the motorists as a lorry loaded with fuel patiently waited in the line.

This is a business opportunity for me. Yesterday, I bought 100 litres of petrol from Shell and I am here to help those who are stranded at a profit

At the station, petrol went for Sh134.70 while diesel cost Sh115.60.

Independent dealers said they were yet to get petroleum products as major players rationed the little stock they had among their franchises.

Pump stations are likely to remain dry for longer if the long queues of loading trucks at depots are anything to go by.

Stocks that have come into the country in the last two weeks are said to be held awaiting the new price review, which will be pegged on global crude that has averaged between $110 and $103 per barrel in the past two weeks.

This means fuel dealers are only selling the 199 million litres of petroleum products Kenya Pipeline said it was holding in its storage facilities countrywide as of April 2.

These include 94 million litres of diesel, 69 million litres of petrol, 23 million litres of jet A1 and 13 million litres of kerosene.

This is only 23.2 per cent of the total KPC storage capacity of 858 million litres—Kipevu-Mombasa (326 million litres capacity), Kenya Petroleum and Refinery Limited (144 million litres storage capacity), Nairobi terminal (233 million litres capacity), JKIA (54 million), Eldoret (48 million), Kisumu (45 million) and Moi International Airport-Mombasa’s seven million litres storage capacity.

Industry data shows Kenya uses about 165.45 million litres of super petrol every month, 220.57 million litres of diesel and 11.26 million litres of kerosene.

There have been only three major deliveries of petrol, diesel and kerosene to Mombasa in the past 11 days, the Kenya Ports Authority vessel schedule shows, with one jet fuel and one LPG vessel.

Marketers attributed the slowdown in imports to cash-flow constraints.

The shortage of fuel has plunged the country into a crisis.

Last Thursday, Kenya received 100 million litres of super petrol at the Port of Mombasa.

Energy and Petroleum CS Monica Juma received the ship during her tour of the Sh40 billion new Kipevu Oil Terminal.

Juma confirmed that non-franchise operators had already received their quotas.

But despite the assurances, motorists and boda boda riders have continued to complain about lack of the commodity.

Boda boda, tuk-tuk and matatu operators are now forced to work extra hours to make their daily remittances to employers.

For Juma Gamtoni, a boda boda operator in Ukunda, Kwale county, remitting the daily Sh400 to his boss has become a challenge.

“Some of my colleagues have been fired by their bosses for failing to submit the daily collections. Our bosses don’t understand the situation on the road,” he said.

Gamtoni operates from Ukunda to Kombani on the Kwale-Lunga Lunga highway.

“We fear going to Kwale town because we might run out of fuel along the way, and only major stations like Petro, Shell and Total have fuel, for which you have to queue,” he said.

In Kilifi, the situation is the same as motorists have had to travel long distances to refuel.

Boda boda operators and motorists in Malindi are spending sleepless nights in search of the commodity.

Karisa Chonya, a boda boda rider, said he tried in vain to get fuel on Monday night. He was forced to sleep late and wake up early to queue again.

“I saw some boda bodas and vehicles jammed at a petrol station so I rushed there and bought a jerrycan, only to learn later that there was no fuel; just people who were hoping it would open,” he said.

Life has become unbearable for many Kenyans not only boda boda operators. Action should be taken on people who promote this fuel crisis

Baraka Kenga, another boda boda operator, said he woke up at 4am and did not get any fuel in all the petrol stations.

Some stations have hiked the price of petrol to Sh169 per litre while pedestrians buy at the normal price in jerrycans and sell at Sh180 or Sh200.

Transport costs have now gone up as boda bodas charge a minimum of Sh100 up from the normal Sh50 for the shortest distance.

In Mombasa, a number of fuel stations were deserted on Tuesday as they had no stock.

Short queues were witnessed at several petrol stations from 6am, but by around 9am there was no fuel.

Alex Baya, a tuk-tuk driver plying the Docks-CDB route in Mombasa, said he had been forced to work extra hours to achieve his daily targets.

“I am supposed to take Sh1,000 to my boss every evening. To achieve this, I have to be on the road by 5am instead of 6am and close at 9pm instead of the usual 8pm,” he said.

Baya said the extra two hours are to recover the time wasted queuing for fuel.

He said he has been forced to increase fares for some distances to meet his target.

“I used to charge Sh100 from Docks to Tudor, now I am charging Sh150,” Baya said.

Mary Sharly, a resident of Nyali, said she was forced to book the afternoon SGR train to Nairobi after failing to get fuel.

“I have driven into almost every fuel station in Nyali since 7am but to no avail. I was supposed to be in Nairobi by 4pm this evening,” she said.

David Makhanu, a motorist in Mombasa, asked the government to revoke the licences of suppliers hoarding fuel.

“I think there are suppliers taking advantage of the situation to make a killing at the expense of wananchi. The government should track and shut them down,” he said.

There's some return to normalcy in Taita Taveta, where supplies are slowly trickling in.

But in Nyamira county, the shortage still persists.

Since Friday last week, motorists have been forced to drive to the neighbouring Kisii and Homa Bay counties to get fuel. 

Those who have been fuelling outside the county cite long queues at the petrol stations, lamenting the waste of time. 

The motorists also expressed concern over the high prices at which they get the commodity and urged the Energy Regulatory Commission to follow up and ensure they are not exploited by station owners.

Some stations are selling a litre of petrol at Sh200 up from Sh135.

National Oil station, the only government-owned petrol station in Nyamira town, has no fuel.

In Homa Bay, boda boda operators asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to take action against government agencies that have contributed to the fuel crisis. 

“Life has become unbearable for many Kenyans not only boda boda operators. Action should be taken on people who promote this fuel crisis,” said Ken Dede, Homa Bay Boda Boda Association chairman.  

In Siaya town and its environs, people are hawking fuel in bottles. The hawkers are asking for as high as Sh250 per litre.

"This is a business opportunity for me. Yesterday, I bought 100 litres of petrol from Shell and I am here to help those who are stranded at a profit," said a hawker who identified himself as Jakapiyo.

Edited by Henry Makori

“WATCH: The latest videos from the Star”