Ruto: Kenya's Fuel Crisis is Not a Result of Ordinary Market Responses

On Monday, April 4, Deputy President William Ruto accused President Uhuru Kenyatta's government of utilizing well-connected corporations to purposefully cause the country's severe fuel scarcity.
Ruto stated that the illegal diversion of consumer protection monies to private enterprises and state agencies, which caused the 'artificial scarcity,' had been identified by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, speaking to the press from his Karen office.
DP Ruto revealed that the Auditor-General has already raised questions on the irregular and illegal diversion of these consumer protection funds to State agencies and unnamed private entities.

"She has also decried abuse on the petroleum import system in favour of some preferred and politically connected oil marketers, deliberately depriving Kenyans of the subsidy mechanism," DP Ruto stated.

He went on to say that some powerful government officials, whom he did not name, have stakes in some of the corporations that provide petroleum to Kenyans, resulting in "conflict of interest" and "state capture."

Ruto has demanded that the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum provide the import quotas given to oil marketers in the previous year, as well as a list of the marketers' names.
The DP said that the funds were instead used to pay off the government's debts and support infrastructure development projects, bypassing the constitutional process 
"Can the treasury also confirm or deny that the diversion of funds has been used in debt servicing and infrastructure development without the approval of the National Assembly?" 

"Why hasn't there been any subsidy allocation in the budget in the last three years? We ask, where is the Ksh39 billion Petroleum Development Levy Fund meant for the fuel subsidy programme?" he questioned
Ruto made the comment only minutes after Uhuru signed the Supplementary Budget Amendment bill into law, releasing Ksh139.7 billion to satisfy budgetary demands in several sectors.
The government set aside Ksh34.4 billion in the new law for fuel stability programs aimed at protecting Kenyans from rising fuel prices.