HIGH FUEL PRICES: Gov't says, "We can't do anything about them"

The Minister of State for Energy, Sidronius Okaasai Opolot has said that the government can not do anything about the “skyrocketing” fuel prices across the country.

The state minister said that the increase in fuel prices is a global trend and government can do close to nothing to escape it.

State Minister Opolot made these remarks while addressing the press at the Uganda Media Centre on Friday.

“The increase in fuel prices is a global trend, we can do little as a country because the price of crude oil internationally has gone up. You can not escape it,” Opolot said.

Opolot said that even if the government wanted to do anything, they do not seem to have the resources for it.

“We do not really have the resources to say that may be let us subsidise for the consumers, we cannot do that,” Opolot added.

The state minister added that Ugandan’s should not be alarmed, because the country’s fuel pricing is still the best in the region.

Opolot said that, “When you consider our petroleum products and their pricing in the region, Uganda’s pricing is still cheap.”

He added that this is the little the government can do as a government.

“What we can do is that we can put up petroleum research in place, and this is how we have managed to keep portioning and have the prices cheaper,” Opolot added.

Solomon Muyita, who is the Principal Communications Officer of the Ministry of Energy, said that the government set a reserve price to ensure that players do not overcharge consumers at the pump, and none of the players have so far surpassed this.

“As we speak, our prices are still competitive, no one has exceeded the reserve price yet,” Muyita noted.

Muyita added that they can not make the reserve price public because players might push near it, but if a specific player is about to surpass it, that is when government can intervene and warn them.

Fuel pump prices for a litre of petrol have been going up recently by between Shs100-Shs630 and Shs60-Shs200 for a litre of diesel.

The highest spike margins were reported in Rukungiri and Bushenyi districts.

As of Wednesday this week, Total fuel stations in Kampala central business district were charging Shs 4,590 per litre of petrol, up from Shs4,430 a fortnight ago.

At Shell stations in Kampala, the pump price for a litre of petrol was up by Shs90 from Shs4,400. In some places, the price is even higher.