Kalonzo Musyoka said Tuesday that as a result of Rwanda importing fuel from elsewhere, Kenya had lost out on a huge market. He was defending recent changes to the country’s taxation, saying he understands the government urgently needs the additional revenue to cover up the hole in the country’s treasury.
“Can you imagine for instance that Rwanda, as we speak, does not buy fuel coming from Kenya…the reason is, it is adulterated. You mix diesel with Kerosene. So we lose that market. Rwanda now gets her energy requirements from elsewhere,” Musyoka told Citizen TV.
Adulterated fuel results in vehicles producing heavy smoke before the engines knock.
However, he did not give details on how much fuel Rwanda was importing from Kenya. New taxes by the government of Kenya include increased price of fuel to put it at same prices to discourage adulteration.
The Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA) in July revealed that Kenyan government loses Sh34bn ($340m) annually to dishonest business people, who sell petrol and diesel mixed with kerosene.
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