‘Ugandans are not protesting’: Gladys Boss says amid cries of fuel price hike

Kenya Kwanza leaders have defended the rise in the cost of fuel in the country claiming the world was facing an unprecedented sharp rise in the cost of petroleum products.

Speaking separately in Uasin Gishu and Kilifi counties on Sunday, the leaders including National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula called for time to stabilize the cost of living.

The leaders had accompanied President William Ruto's aide Farouk Kibet for the donation of school buses in St Mary’s Osorongai Secondary School in Kipkaren turbo constituency Uasin Gishu County.

And amid the cheers and joy from the school fraternity, the question of the spike in the cost of fuel loomed large.

The leaders defended the fuel prices that have since crossed the 200 shillings mark, an all-time high.

“Hapa Kenya mafuta tunauza 211.6 shillings na Uganda ni 216 shillings. Uganda sii ni juu Zaidi, mbona watu wa Uganda hawaendi kuandamana,” said National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss.

Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria who sits in President William Ruto's Cabinet admitted in Uasin Gishu that the cost of living was at an all-time high but affirmed that the end will justify the means.

“Maneno ya gharama ya maisha iko juu..hakuna kitu ya kuficha..sisi kama viongozi kile inatubidi ni kuwaambia ukweli...mafuta imepanda dunia yote; umesikia ya Uganda. Saa hii rais wetu yuko Marekani anakutana na wazungu,” he said.

But even with the admission of global factors in the fuel prices hike, the Kenya Kwanza leaders continued to heap blame on the previous regime for what they called regrettable economic choices that they say plunged the country into a deep hole.

“The last regime ya President Uhuru Kenyatta hapo ndio Kenya iliingia kwa shimo..saahi wanatuambia ati wanapatia Ruto D. Hiyo ni hesabu gani?” posed Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro.

In Kilifi County, Wetangula called on Kenyans to give the government time saying it is only a matter of time before the cost of living is stabilized.

(Hii Kenya ni yetu sisi sote, lazima tushikane na tushirikiane. Hata kwa mambo ya gharama ya maisha lazima tusimame tuungane na serikali,” he said.