Advocate and Law Society of Kenya Council member Wycklife Oyoo has faulted the government over what he described as opaque fuel pricing mechanisms, questioning the lack of transparency in the breakdown of taxes, levies and stabilisation measures that continue to keep fuel prices high despite state interventions.
Speaking on Radio Generation on Monday, Oyoo said Kenyans were yet to receive a clear explanation on how fuel prices are determined and how each levy contributes to the final retail cost.
“There are various components of the fuel prices. The first one is what is called the landing cost,” he said. “The landing cost basically constitutes between 40 to 60 per cent of the fuel price. The rest has to do with taxes, levies, storage, transport and the margins for oil marketers.”
He explained that transport and storage costs partly account for regional price differences, with fuel becoming more expensive further away from the Port of Mombasa.
“That is why if fuel lands in Mombasa, it is likely to be more expensive in Kisumu,” he said.
Oyoo argued that despite government assurances that measures such as reducing VAT and drawing funds from the Petroleum Development Levy were meant to cushion consumers, fuel prices remained significantly high.
“We’ve been told that a sum of about five billion shillings has been withdrawn from that fund to cushion us… but they still remain high,” he said.
The advocate, who said the matter was now before court, accused the government of failing to provide adequate public information on the pricing formula.
“So the first thing we are asking for before court is to be given a breakdown of what informs the pricing and how weighted each item is in the fuel price,” he said.
Oyoo also criticised the government’s decision to allow the importation of fuel with higher sulphur content for six months, saying the policy lacked transparency and public participation.
“What this does is that it then allows the importation of fuel that may not be of high quality, but that the government says is necessary to try and deal with the shortage,” he said. “It’s demonstrably not cheaper… we are dealing with what we will call a double tragedy. It is bad fuel that is still high in prices.”
He further questioned the secrecy surrounding the government-to-government fuel importation arrangement with Middle Eastern countries, saying even some oil marketers were unaware of the details.
“We haven’t seen the G-to-G deal,” he said. “Article 35 on the right to information remains severely compromised and violated.”
Under the revised prices issued by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority following a consultative meeting between President William Ruto and matatu operators, Super Petrol in Nairobi remained at Sh214.25 per litre, Diesel was reduced by Sh10.06 to Sh232.86 per litre, while Kerosene increased to Sh191.38 per litre.
The revised prices were announced after days of protests and a nationwide transport strike over soaring fuel costs and the high cost of living, with matatu operators demanding government intervention to ease pressure on the sector.
President Ruto later directed a further Sh10 reduction in diesel prices for the June–July pricing cycle after holding talks with transport sector leaders.
“I have directed, after consultations with leaders here from the transport sector, that in the pricing cycle, we are going to further reduce the prices of diesel by Sh10 for June to July,” Ruto said.