URA calls for investigation into reports of fuel hoarding
By Stephen Otage
The Uganda Revenue Authority has urged the government to investigate the fuel imported by small companies on grounds that they are hoarding to create shortage and hike pump prices.
Ibrahim Bbosa, the URA spokesperson said this time, taxes on fuel cannot be blamed for the increasing pump prices since they have not been increased.
Bbosa’s statement was prompted by the Daily Monitor’s weekend story on how fuel pump prices in Kisumu and Nakuru where Uganda gets fuel are relatively low, between Ksh 114 and Ksh130, which is the equivalent of Shs 3,700 and Sh 4,200 respectively yet in Uganda the prices have since doubled.
In Kenya, the government resolved the problem by paying fuel subsidies in a program that has softened the blow of increasing prices while further straining public finances.
However, Bbosa says stabilizing fuel prices will depend on the volume of fuel that will be imported for that purpose.
By this morning, Shell and Total, the biggest fuel dealers in the country, were selling both petrol and diesel at a retail pump price of between Shs 6,000 and 6,500 per liter.
