10 January 2008
Kampala — THE Police in Masaka yesterday arrested a filling station manager and two pump attendants for taking advantage of the fuel shortage in the country to charge exorbitant prices, reports Ali Mambule.
Petro Uganda's manager Sophia Namuddu and pump attendant Simon Bukenya, were arrested in Kyabakuza, along with Petrocity pump attendant Mudassir Sekandi, for flouting the regulations against over-charging clients.
Petro Uganda on Wednesday evening allegedly displayed sh2,520 as the price for petrol, but sold it to security officers at sh4,500 per liter, according to Masaka District police commander Steven Tanui.
"When they demanded for a receipt, the manager declined to issue it. When they went to Petrocity, where they bought fuel at sh4,000 per litre, Sekandi also declined to give them a receipt." Tanui said.
The security officers lodged a complaint to Masaka police station.
"The manager at Petrocity disappeared through the back door after realizing that we had arrested his staff. We are still looking for him." Tanui said.
The prices for fuel in Masaka are still high with some black market dealers charging sh7,000 per litre for petrol, which they sell in jerry cans.
Meanwhile, the Police in a statement yesterday warned that dealers in petroleum products who overcharge the public face imprisonment of up to three years.
The country has faced acute fuel shortages since violence erupted in Kenya as a result of disputed elections.
"Any person who induces another to pay any greater sum of money in respect of goods than such a person would have paid is a cheat and is liable to imprisonment for three years," Gabriel Tibayungwa, the police spokesman, stated.
State Minister for Energy Simon D'Ujanga justified the move. "Although prices are set by forces of demand and supply, there is a reasonable and an exorbitant price. No dealer should sell fuel at an exorbitant price because we have enough fuel in the country," he said.
He cited sh2,300 and sh2,500 as current fair prices for diesel and petrol respectively, and urged people to only buy fuel at the displayed price.
In Lira district the price of petrol has hit up to sh12,000 per litre on the black market, in spite the arrival of four fuel tankers in the district on Wednesday.
The critical shortage of oil in Soroti entered its third day yesterday, forcing taxis to abandon their routes. Hundreds of passengers were stranded in the town. Desperate motorists bought petrol at over sh10,000 per litre.
In Rukungiri, petrol was going for sh5,000 to 8,000 per litre. Taxi fares on the 10km stretch from Kebisoni to Rukungiri town shot up from sh1,000 to sh3,000.
The Police suspects that some people are carrying away fuel, especially petrol, in jerrycans in order to hoard and sell later at higher prices.
In a development likely to bring some relief, seven trailers were yesterday loaded with fuel from the MOIL ship that docked at Port Bell on Tuesday.
The Kenyan-registered freight tanker brought in 300,000 litres of diesel and 87,000 litres of petrol from Mwanza, Tanzania. A MOIL Uganda official said the company was now in a position to meet the needs of its clients.
Meanwhile, the natural resources committee chairperson, Emmanuel Dombo, said Parliament was concerned that the country did not have enough oil reserves to handle the emergencies.
"We are very surprised that within one day of violence in Kenya there was a severe fuel shortage all over the country", Dombo told journalists yesterday.
He said the committee would inspect the oil reserves in Jinja to establish their capacity and summon energy minister Daudi Migereko to explain the shortage.
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