Kenyan elections: Ugandans reassured on fuel supply

The assistant commissioner for petroleum supply in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, John Friday, has assured Ugandans that the upcoming general elections in Kenya will not affect fuel supply to Uganda.

Polls take place on the 8^th August and this has already stoked sending fears among Ugandans about the availability of fuel.

Their fears stem from experiences of 2007/08 Kenya post-election violence which disrupted both Kenyans and non-Kenyans especially those into trade using the port of Mombasa. This also led to a hike in fuel prices.

The commissioner made the assurances recently while officiating at the opening of Stabex Fuel Station at Kibaati village in Naggojje Sub County, Mukono district.

According to Friday, fuel suppliers are required to stock fuel to cover  ten days, adding that since elections will be a one day event there will be enough stocks.

"Each oil marketing company is supposed to have stock that can last for ten days assuming nothing is entering the country. I am not talking about the stock in station tanks or pumps but in depots," he said.

Commenting on adulteration of fuel, Friday said the ministry has stepped up its monitoring and the ministry had successfully reduced adulteration which was about 39% in 2009 to about 1% today.

"For us to keep quality as government, we do a fuel marking and quality control programme to ensure that the fuel imported into the country remains the same without any changes in parameters," he said.

Mukono Resident District Commissioner, Maj. David Matovu urged the local leaders to stop heaping demands on investors at the expense of making them regret the reason why they established businesses in their area.

Naggojje chairman, Joseph Ndawula asked Stabex executive director Jack Chebet to consider the locals when recruiting workers instead of hiring people from Kampala.