With the ongoing fuel spike in the country causing uproar, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa has said that the hikes are being caused by management and administration issues at the border.
As of today, a litre of petrol in different fuel stations ranges between Shs5800 to Shs6200.
“You must know that Uganda is a net importer of petroleum products, until we get our first oil out of the ground hopefully in April 2025, we will remain importing. We can’t control the world market,” Nankabirwa said.
The minister however, noted that the particular hikes that are happening right now don’t have a bearing on the international prices.
“This is management and administration issues at the border where we had URA having a challenge of a scanner but they had to bring the mobile scanner from Legu to Malaba or Busia to reduce on the congestion which was there,” she said.
Nankabirwa also called upon dealers not to use this chance to cheat Ugandans.
“I know that we are following a liberalized economy where market demands determine prices but it’s not good to cheat. You can’t rise from Shs4000 to Shs12000,” she said.
Nankabirwa also highlighted how the move to mitigate Covid 19 has also caused stagnation at the border.
“There were also other issues regarding Covid 19 where we are trying to ensure whoever entering has undergone a PCR test so there was that stagnation at the border and I hope that it’s being worked on,” she said.
Meanwhile, over the weekend the Ministry of Health suspended the mandatory testing at the border to ease movements of trucks into and within the country.