Jane Nafula & Agencies
6 January 2008
Kampala — AS the biting fuel crisis precipitated by the political impasse in Kenya entered its fifth day, a government minister warned on Friday that speculators who have exploited the situation to charge extortionate rates will be dragged to court.
Energy Minister Daudi Migereko told Sunday Monitor in an exclusive interview that the government is quietly working with some oil companies to identify fraudulent filling stations.
"We have heard a number of issues regarding prices being charged by different petrol stations," he said. "We are working with oil companies to ensure that people pay the prices displayed on the boards.
We shall not hesitate to take legal action against petrol stations that charge prices that are different from what is displayed on the boards at filling stations because it is illegal to do that."
Uganda has for the last one week been experiencing an acute fuel crisis following post-election violence in Kenya that made it difficult for Uganda to transport her fuel through that coastal country.
Only 36 out of the 155 trucks that were en route have entered Uganda in recent days but Minister Migereko said that another convoy of about 80 fuel trucks from Nakuru and Eldoret were on their way.
The minister said that Uganda will need a continuous follow of fuel into the country before the current stock-out can be brought under control.
Uganda uses 1.2 million litres of diesel, 543,000 litres of petrol and 300,000 litres of jet fuel daily. About 560,000 litres of fuel is used to generate electric power.
A litre of petrol which was previously being sold at Shs2,300 was increased to Shs10,000 while diesel shot up from Shs2,222 to Shs5,000.
The government and some major oil companies including TOTAL and Shell have condemned extortionists and suspended some of their retailers but this has not stopped other dealers from overcharging customers.
Whereas some filling stations have chosen not to display prices on the boards, those that have done so actually ask for prices triple what is displayed once one gets to the pump.
A consumer who went to fuel his car at one of the filling stations on Entebbe Road told Sunday Monitor on Saturday that he was shocked when he found no prices displayed at this station.
After fuelling the car, a pump attendant charged him Shs6,000 per litre.
On Friday, a scuffle erupted between motorists and the managers of Delta filling station in Ntinda when the former were told to pay Shs6,000 per litre of petrol. When motorists resisted, one of the managers asked them to pays Shs4,000 but they still resisted resulting in the scuffle.
The motorists insisted that they were going to pay usual price of Shs2,300. Mr Migereko acknowledges that petrol is scarce but warns that customers should not be exploited.
He said Uganda has not been getting adequate supply of petroleum products for nearly a year now. He said between February and June last year, the refinery in Mombasa broke down every now and then.
He also said that the pipeline which supplies petroleum products from Mombasa to Nairobi, Eldoret to Kisumu where Uganda is supposed to pick the products was faulty.
Said Minister Migereko: "Prior to Christmas, we tried what we could to get oil companies to deliver as much products as they could, however, at that time, there was a shortage of petrol in the East African region. We managed to bring in reasonable quantities of diesel which has kept us going but petrol is still scarce at all petrol stations."
He said the available diesel is being managed very judiciously.
Most filling stations have diesel but lack petrol.
The Managing Director of Shell Uganda, who doubles as the chairman of the Association of Petroleum Companies, Ivan Kyayonka, said the public should insist on paying the prices that are posted on the boards.
"If someone posts Shs2,000 and charges Shs6,000, that is unacceptable. This is cheating consumers," Mr Kyayonka said.
He said the prices posted by Shell, for example, are based on the world prices today and that it would be unfair for it to change them due to scarcity. "It is not logical to price fuel on the basis of scarcity," Mr Kyayonka said.
He apologised to the public over the current fuel crisis.
"New year and Christmas is when people want to enjoy themselves. We must apologise as players in the industry for the situation that we have," he said.
He, however, said they are trying their best to get fuel into the country through the longer Tanzania route.
US official in Kenya
Meanwhile, Washington's top diplomat for Africa met Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga on Saturday morning to seek an end to ethnic violence that has killed more than 300 people and shattered the country's peaceful image.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, who arrived in Nairobi overnight, was due to meet President Mwai Kibaki later in the day.
"We had a long, extremely useful meeting with her," said Mr Odinga's spokesman Salim Lone. During the two-hour talk, Mr Lone said Mr Odinga reiterated the opposition's demands that a transitional government be formed to prepare for a new presidential vote within three to six months.
"We're willing to meet Mr Kibaki as long as there is international mediation," Mr Lone added. "Without it, this crisis will only fester and get worse."
Ms Frazer's mission was the latest attempt at mediation by world powers horrified by the turmoil in what was seen as one of the continent's most stable democracies, and an ally of the West in its efforts to counter al Qaeda.
Ms Frazer's mission came in the wake of an appeal by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on the leaders of Kenya's political parties to share power.
"The only way the country is going to make progress...is through the sharing of political power," he said.
Mr Miliband, speaking on BBC Radio 4's World Tonight, said: "The truth is that the election shows that Kenya is split pretty fairly down the middle and the only way the country is going to make progress on the issues like the pitiless poverty... is through the sharing of political power.
"If that is coming on to the agenda, that is precisely what the unanimous view of the international community has been over the last few days and which we have all been working for."
He said "deep-seated problems" exposed during the week would not be tackled without such political compromise.
Mr Miliband said a re-run of the election was not necessary, but outlined three priorities: stopping the violence; documenting the irregularities of the election and making sure they were "pursued through legal and political means"; and mediation to "bridge the divide between the two sides".
He said the role of the president of the African Union, Ghana's President John Kufuor, "is absolutely critical to this."
Mr Kufuor has been unable to enter Kenya because he has not received an invitation from the Kenyan government.
"The message that has to go out loud and clear to both sides of the Kenyan political divide that they should be facilitating the entry of President Kufuor into the country as soon as possible," Mr Miliband said.
Earlier, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander announced that £1m in aid would be given to Kenya,.
The money will be given to the Kenyan Red Cross for emergency humanitarian work after post-election violence flared across the country.
It will help provide food, shelter and clean water for as many as 500,000 displaced Kenyans. Violence kicked off in earnest after Mr Kibaki took a narrow victory in a contentious vote count that had Mr Odinga ahead all the way, prompting opposition charges that ballots had been stuffed in the president's strongholds to rig the result.
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