Mbadi Defends Uhuru's Government, Alleges Probable Causes of Fuel Crisis in Kenya

Suba South MP John Mbadi has distanced President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration from the recent fuel crisis being experienced in the country.

Speaking on Tuesday evening during an interview with Citizen Tv, Mbadi dismissed reports that the government had directed fuel subsidy funds to other uses as alleged by Deputy President William Ruto's Kenya Kwanza team.

According to the Leader of the Minority in the National Assembly, the government has already availed money to be used on petrol subsidy and that is why the regulator had not increased petrol prices despite the itch.

"The cause of the fuel shortage in Kenya cannot be the Petroleum Development Levy Fund. I know the government has already spent some money to stabilize petrol prices, that is why there was no increase in petroleum products" stated Mbadi.

He went ahead to lay the blame on Oil Markers, saying they are the ones to be blamed instead. According to Mbadi, the markers could have deliberately decided to cause an artificial shortage so that they can sell the products at exorbitant prices when the situation worsens more due to the Ukraine-Russia wars.

"Someone somewhere probably...I want to theorize that there are some marketers of these oil products, who because of the war in Ukraine, are foreseeing a windfall in the availability of petroleum products and denying Kenyans an opportunity to get them now to sell them later at higher prices.

Telling someone like me who has a knowledge of finance and economics that we don't have money to stabilize the prices, hence the fuel shortage is hogwash. This thing did not begin yesterday, we even saw a spike in prices last year" added Mbadi.

He added that the Ksh. 34B set aside by parliament can’t be released in one day. He said it has to be released in bits before it can fully stabilize the oil prices.

His sentiments comes a day after Deputy President William Ruto and his Kenya Kwanza team posed hard questions to President Uhuru Kenyatta, saying the actual shortage of fuel in the country is "artificial" and has not been caused by the international crisis.

Ruto accused alleged cartels inside the government whom he said have taken over the energy sector and deliberately caused the shortage for their own benefits.

"The shortage of fuel in Kenya can be blamed on cartels and barons who have taken over the government. We ask, where is the Ksh39 billion Petroleum Development Levy Fund meant for the fuel subsidy program as this crisis deepens? The Auditor-General has already raised questions on the irregular and illegal diversion of these funds to state agencies and unnamed private entities" stated Ruto