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.

📻 Breaking It Down

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.

📌 What You Need to Know

“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.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya