Motorists spend hours in queues as fuel shortage bites

MURANG’A, Kenya, Apr 3 — An acute fuel shortage has hit Murang’a county and its environs forcing motorists to drive long distances in search of the now scarce commodity. In Murang’a town only one of the six filling stations is supplying petrol and motorists are spending hours waiting in long queues. The fuel shortage that is also being experienced in several other parts of the country has been attributed to low amounts of fuel imported into the country by oil marketing companies who claim not to have been paid subsidies by the government for the last four months. According to Sunday Mumbe, a pump attendant in one of the Petrol stations, the business has come to a standstill since they don’t have petrol. “We ran out of petrol on Thursday and since then we have been busy turning away cars which is really frustrating; we are not in a position to serve our clients,” Mumbe said. Patrick Macharia, an automobile owner, has been driving for kilometers from one petrol station to another in search of petrol. “I have been to six different petrol stations and finally I have got one with fuel but am not sure if it will get to my turn before petrol gets finished, I fear we might end up parking our cars,” Macharia said. “There are long queues at the one petrol station that has petrol,” he added. Despite the shortage, prices have remained the same with petrol retailing at Sh135 per litre and diesel retailing at Sh116 per litre. Most filling stations have however instructed their attendants not to sell fuel worth more than Sh2,000 per vehicle. John Karuri, a matatu driver with one of the leading Saccos in Murang’a says fare prices have not changed yet but if the situation gets worse they will have no choice but to review their prices. “If the situation gets worse that means the fuel prices may skyrocket or there will be no fuel at all and we might end up raising the prices,” Karuri averred. Karuri urged the government to promptly intervene because fuel is essential in many manufacturing industries and not just in the transport sector.