Page 11 - AfrOil Week 30 2022

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

Kenya revives sales of subsidised

LPG cylinders to poor households

KENYA KENYA’S government has revived plans to sell has pushed up prices of commodities globally.
cheap LPG cylinders to poor households, start- Annual inflation accelerated to 7.9% in June,
ing with those in Nairobi, in a bid to increase the highest level since August 2017, from 7.1%
consumption of the clean energy source and the previous month, according to the National
eliminate the use of charcoal and similar pollut- Bureau of Statistics. The central bank targets
ing fuels for cooking. inflation at 2.5% to 7.5%.
National Oil Corp. of Kenya (NOCK) will Kenya is likely to face increased price pres-
sell 6kg cylinders filled with LPG for KES 2,100 sures on food in the coming months due to
($17.67), less than half the market price of KES reduced maize production stemming from
5,100, Tuko reports. Cylinders will have burners the doubling of fertiliser costs and prolonged
with other accessories. drought, according to a World Food Programme
The KES 3bn programme, introduced in (WFP) study. ™
2019 but not implemented widely following the
distribution of faulty gas cylinders by fraudulent
contractors, aims to distribute 1.2 mn gas cylin-
ders across Kenya annually over six years.
NOCK’s CEO Gideon Morintant said the
distribution of subsidised cylinders in Nai-
robi, starting in August, targets 60,000 poor
households.
“Plans are underway, and with the help
of Ministry of Interior and Coordination of
national government, all the beneficiaries will
be reached,” he told Business Daily.
The government has also announced a
reduction in value-added tax (VAT) on LPG
from 16% to 8%, a significant amount for many
households due to the rising cost of living partly
caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which The distribution of subsidised LPG cylinders targets 60,000 households (File Photo)

Ugandan security officials quash

protests against soaring fuel prices

UGANDA POLICE arrested scores of people in Uganda In Kampala, where protests were expected,
on July 25 as security forces used teargas and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces and police
truncheons in Jinja, a major centre on the busy were deployed in great numbers in a bid to deter
highway to the country’s border with Kenya, to such action.
quell protests against soaring petroleum prod- Police spokesman Fred Enanga alleged that
uct prices, which have doubled since the start opposition politicians were behind the planned
of the year. protests in the capital, Kampala, but security
Televised footage showed police firing tear agencies were able to prevent an escalation of
gas to disperse gathering crowds, while they, the situation.
along with soldiers and other security person- “The planners of the protests went to
nel, clashed with the mainly young protesters, Kawempe [an area in Kampala] telling shop
who threw stones and other projectiles. attendants to close their businesses today,” the
Unrest has manifested in street protests in Monitor quoted him as saying on July 25. “What
different parts of the East African country over we did was to deploy early in the morning to
the rising cost of living. prevent them from achieving their goal.”

Week 30 28•July•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11