NAIROBI, Kenya May 18 – National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has defended the government’s handling of soaring fuel prices, insisting the government is not insensitive to the suffering of Kenyans.
Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV, Mbadi said the government was actively engaging stakeholders in the transport sector to explore possible interventions aimed at easing the burden caused by rising pump prices.
“And I’m not saying there is nothing else we can do. Something can be done. This evening actually at 4pm we have a meeting between the National Treasury, the Ministry of Transport together with the matatu operators just to discuss with them first, to understand where we are and explore any possibility of further action that can be taken,” Mbadi said.
“It is not that this government is insensitive. It is that we have a crisis which is a worldwide crisis,” he added.
The CS’s remarks came as matatu operators, truckers, boda boda riders, digital taxi operators, logistics firms, and private motorists staged a coordinated shutdown that paralysed public transport services across major towns and cities.
Mbadi defended the government’s decision to retain some fuel taxes, arguing that aggressive subsidies could destabilize the country’s economy if the global fuel crisis persists for a prolonged period.
According to the Treasury CS, the government has already spent billions of shillings through the fuel stabilization programme to cushion consumers from further price increases.
He revealed that the government spent Sh6.2 billion in April under the fuel stabilization fund following the first price adjustment and is spending an additional Sh5 billion this month.
“We could not just exhaust the fund because we didn’t know how long this is going to take,” Mbadi said, adding that only about Sh5 billion would remain in the stabilization fund by the end of June.
The Treasury CS also cited the reduction of Value Added Tax on fuel to 8 percent as another costly intervention aimed at cushioning Kenyans from high energy costs.
“We have reduced VAT to 8 percent. One month costs this economy Sh12 billion. If it goes for the whole year, it is almost Sh300 billion,” he said.
Mbadi cautioned that while the government recognizes the gravity of the crisis, policymakers must balance immediate relief measures with the need to protect the country’s broader economic stability.
“We must sit back and ask ourselves, yes, we have a crisis to deal with, but can’t we deal with it in a way that does not disrupt the entire macroeconomic fundamentals of the country?” he posed.
The nationwide protests were sparked by the latest fuel price review by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), which pushed diesel prices to a historic high of Sh242.92 per litre in Nairobi, while Super Petrol rose to Sh214.25 per litre.