Matatu fare goes up

By Peter Ochieng

Kenyans who depend on Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) for transport will have to dig deeper into their pockets starting Saturday.

An official from the Matatu Owners Association (MOA) says fare will go up by between 20 and 50 per cent, as a response to an increase of fuel prices announced by the Energy and Regulatory Authority (EPRA) on Thursday night.

Patricia Mutheu, the Association’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) says the new fare rates will take effect by midnight, Saturday.

“We took that deliberate decision because the other alternative would be for us to close the shop. Adjusting is necessary otherwise, we will be left with no business to run,” she told Capital FM.

That means an increase of between Sh20 and Sh50 on various routes across the country.

In the review announced by EPRA last night, a litre of super petrol has gone up by Sh16.96, diesel Sh21.32 and kerosene Sh33.13. As a result, retail prices for a liter of petrol, diesel, and kerosene in Nairobi now stand at Sh211.64, Sh200.99 and Sh202.61 respectively.

Moses Kuria, Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Investment, Trade and Industrialization in a post on social media said Kenyans should brace for even further increase in prices of fuel going forward.

The vocal CS said a litre of fuel will increase by Sh10 each month, until February, 2024.

“Global Crude Prices are on an upward trajectory. For planning purposes expect pump prices to go up by Sh10 every month till February.”

EPRA Director General Daniel Kiptoo said the new prices are inclusive of the 16 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) in line with the Finance Act, 2023.

“The prices are inclusive of the 16% Value Added Tax (VAT) in line with the provisions of the Finance Act 2023, the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act 2020 and the revised rates for excise duty adjusted for inflation as per Legal Notice No. 194 of 2020."

“The average landed cost of imported Super Petrol increased by 4.80% from US$739.21 (Ksh.108,516.03) per cubic metre in July 2023 to US$774.67 (Ksh.113,721.56) per cubic metre in August 2023; Diesel increased by 12.52% from US$701.99 (Ksh.103,052.13) per cubic metre to US$789.89 (Ksh.115,955.85) per cubic metre while Kerosene increased by 19.79% from US$690.58 (Ksh.101,377.14) per cubic metre to US$827.26 (Ksh.121,441.77) per cubic metre.”

The new prices will be operational for a month, before EPRA makes another review in mid-October.