KEY POINTS
- Ruto says Kenya’s high fuel prices reflect its middle-income status and not bad policy.
- The road maintenance levy funds Kenya’s 20,000 kilometers of tarmac network, the president argues.
- Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro wants Kenyan fuel prices cut by KSh 27 per liter.
President William Ruto came out swinging Sunday on one of the sorest points in Kenyan politics: the price of fuel.
Speaking at a church service in Karen, Nairobi, on April 19, the president told worshippers that Kenyans should stop comparing what they pay at the pump with what drivers in Uganda and Tanzania pay. Kenya, he argued, is a middle-income country. Its neighbors are not.
“I know many people in Kenya keep asking why it is that sometimes the prices of fuel are different in Kenya from our neighbors,” Ruto said. “Kenya is a middle-income country. Our neighbors are the least developed countries. There is a big difference.”
The comments come as anger over rising pump prices boils over across the country.
Ruto points to roads as the cost driver
The president pinned most of the price gap on Kenya’s road maintenance levy. Kenyans pay more at the pump, he said, because fuel taxes build and maintain tarmac across the country.
He said Kenya currently maintains more than 20,000 kilometers of tarmac roads, with another 6,000 kilometers under construction. That network, he argued, is larger than those of Uganda and Tanzania combined.
“Kenyans need to understand that we currently maintain over 20,000 kilometers of tarmac roads across the country and have another 6,000 kilometers under construction,” Ruto said.
He framed the levy as an investment rather than a burden. Better roads, he said, mean stronger trade, faster mobility and a stronger economy.
Opposition pushes back with a price cut plan
The defense lands four days after the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority released new pump prices on April 14. Super petrol rose by KSh 28.69. Diesel climbed KSh 40.30. Kenya now pays the highest fuel prices in the East African region.
Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro wasted no time. On April 15, he laid out a plan he said could shave KSh 27 off the current price of a liter.
Nyoro wants the government to scrap the KSh 7 fuel levy introduced in 2024. He also wants a 5 percent VAT cut, which he estimates would save another KSh 8. A further KSh 5 billion draw from the Fuel Stabilization Fund, he said, would cut an additional KSh 12.
The lawmaker pointed to Kenya’s 400 million liter monthly fuel consumption as proof that relief is overdue. Motorists, transporters and small businesses have all been squeezed by the latest hike. Ruto’s middle-income defense may face its toughest test in the weeks ahead.
