Acting Petroleum Cabinet Secretary (CS) Monica Juma has assured Kenyans that the Government will continue paying subsidies to oil marketing companies.

This, she says, will ensure Kenyans are cushioned against high fuel costs.

Her assurance comes on the back of speculation that the State was contemplating discontinuing the fuel stabilisation programme over its alleged unsustainability. 

The Government currently owes the oil marketing companies Shs 14.52 billion under the fuel stabilisation kitty.

In absence of the subsidies, projections indicated that motorists would pay as high as Shs 175 for a litre of petrol and Shs 160 for a litre of diesel.

Currently in Nairobi, a litre of petrol retails at Shs 134.72, diesel goes for Shs 115.6 and kerosene Shs 103.54.

CS Juma, in an address to journalists at Kawi House in Nairobi on Thursday, April 14, said the Government is working on administrative and logistical processes to dispatch the subsidy arrears to the oil marketers.

The government has paid oil marketers up to Shs 34.64 billion in fuel subsidy since April last year. The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) will announce its monthly review of the fuel prices later today (Thursday, April 14).

With CS Juma’s assurance on fuel stabilisation fund, the prices, even if they’d rise, the review won’t subject Kenyans to shock.

The minister projected that the fuel crisis will be resolved in 72 hours’ time from Thursday, April 14. By Brian Okoth, The Standard