The opposition has swiftly moved to create political mileage out of the global oil crisis, in a bid to discredit the government\u2019s efforts to ensure a steady flow of oil supply in the country. To begin with, it is important to remind Kenyans that when the 5th administration took over in 2022, the country was experiencing an acute fuel shortage, high price volatility, and a shortage of foreign exchange reserves, especially the dollar.<\/p>\n
It was out of this situation that the Government-to-Government (G2G) Programme was established. At that point, spot buying was the order of the day, whereby some oil marketers would create an artificial shortage, thus necessitating the buying of oil offshore on waiting vessels in the high seas. This regime also led to a shortage of dollars for the importation of goods into the country.<\/p>\n
The G2G arrangement was thus put in place to eliminate any intermediaries with the source countries by dealing directly with their oil companies, namely Saudi Aramco, ADNOC, and ENOC, which also appointed local marketers for their products. This way, the importation of oil has been scheduled for every two months, with prices negotiated in advance, thus creating predictability and aiding macroeconomic planning.<\/p>\n
The Energy & Petroleum Regulatory Agency (EPRA) is mandated by law to review oil prices on the 14th of every month. Due to this predictability, the G2G arrangement has enabled a steady oil supply for the last three years, with other countries coming to benchmark against Kenya! In addition, the artificial shortage leading to spot buying resulted in the hoarding and unavailability of US dollars. With the implementation of the G2G, dollar availability became tenable as the government has been able to ascertain the amount required for all imports into the country.<\/p>\n
As a result, this has led to the strengthening of the value of the shilling against the dollar, ranking our currency among the five strongest globally, coming only second to Argentina. Furthermore, the government has been able to reduce inflation to a low of 2.7%, down from 9.6% in 2022. Currently, the rate stands at 5.3%, with the value of the Kenyan shilling against the dollar stabilising between 129 and 130. Moreover, our foreign currency reserves have grown to over 6.3 months of import cover. It is therefore preposterous for anyone to claim that the G2G arrangement hasn\u2019t been beneficial to Kenyans.<\/p>\n
The opposition\u2019s attempt to pin the recent fuel price adjustment on the Government-to-Government (G2G) fuel deal is thus a misleading distraction from the real culprit: the ongoing geopolitical crisis in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The sharp increase in prices reflects the first full pricing cycle since the US-Israel strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026, which disrupted the Strait of Hormuz\u2014a chokepoint through which 20% of the world\u2019s oil supply passes. This led to an unprecedented increase in the landing cost. Between February and March 2026, the landed cost of diesel skyrocketed by 68.72% (from $636 to $1,073 per cubic metre), while kerosene costs more than doubled (+105%). Super petrol landed costs rose by 41.53%.<\/p>\n
While the opposition fixates on the MV Paloma cargo, they ignore the real calculations. The G2G agreement secured prices as low as $140,111 per metric ton, compared to the $198,855 paid for the outlier Paloma cargo. The government has already excluded that rogue cargo from pricing calculations to protect consumers.<\/p>\n
It is critical to note that without any government intervention, diesel would currently be retailing at over KSh 230 per litre, matching or exceeding the highest regional peaks. In order to cushion Kenyans at the bottom of the pyramid, the government has moved aggressively to absorb the shock through three key measures.<\/p>\n
To begin with, VAT has been reduced effective April 16 from 16% to 8% via a Special Gazette Notice. In addition, KSh 6.2 billion has been injected through the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) Fund to help stabilise pump prices. For kerosene specifically, the government is absorbing KSh 108 per litre through the subsidy to keep the price low for many poor households. This is because a majority of families across the 47 counties still use mafuta taa for both lighting and cooking purposes. Indeed, without these measures, petrol would have risen by KSh 37 and diesel by KSh 70 this month. The government thus cares enough to save its people from such a dramatic and punitive rise in fuel prices.<\/p>\n
The opposition\u2019s maligning of the G2G arrangement fails to explain why the Gulf nations would extend 180-day credit terms to Kenya if this wasn\u2019t a legitimate sovereign arrangement. Regarding their demand for a KSh 27 reduction, the calculations are simple: the landed cost of diesel increased by KSh 70 due to the war. The government has reduced this by KSh 23 (subsidy) + KSh 13 (VAT cut) = KSh 36. We have already surpassed this arithmetic expectation in real terms.<\/p>\n
Dismantling the Road Maintenance Fuel Levy (RMLF) would halt infrastructure development, as such funds have already been securitised to procure KSh 175 billion, unlocking over 6,000 kilometres of roads, comprising 585 projects across the country. When we took over, we inherited stalled projects worth over KSh 650 billion. This is what the RMLF has helped unlock.<\/p>\n
To ensure a steady supply, the government is also working to rebuild our strategic fuel reserves (currently at 16 days for petrol) to buffer against future shocks. The opposition\u2019s call for \u201cmass action\u201d will only disrupt supply chains, cause hoarding, and ironically drive prices even higher due to artificial scarcity.<\/p>\n
The government feels the pain of every Kenyan at the pump, but we refuse to lie to them out of sheer populism. Kenyans are advised not to entertain reckless allegations that undermine our national security and economic stability. The opposition needs to clarify whose brief they are holding. The government appeals to the public for patience and cooperation as it works to stabilise the economy. This remains a transitory challenge until 14 May 2026. We shall continue to engage all relevant stakeholders to ensure the country navigates this period successfully.<\/p>\n
The Writer Is the Spokesperson for the Government of Kenya<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The post G2G Fuel Supply Propaganda: Setting the Record Straight<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The opposition has swiftly moved to create political mileage out of the global oil crisis, in a bid to discredit the government\u2019s efforts to ensure a steady flow of oil supply in the country. To begin with, it is important to remind Kenyans that when the 5th administration took over in 2022, the country was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}