During the re-launch of the Women Enterprise Fund at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) by President William Ruto, the President has announced that cooking gas will start retailing from Ksh.300 starting July 2023.
The Head of State claims that the action will give people access to cooking gas at reasonable prices and end the use of charcoal and firewood in Kenyan households, which present risks to both their health and the environment.
President Ruto stated that he will start by subsidizing gas tax rates to relatively low rates before enacting his price reduction promise.
He said, “Among the 70% of Kenyans who use firewood and charcoal, 99% of them are women and in order to reduce the gas prices we will, the gas cylinders you buy will move from Ksh.2800 to Ksh.300 or Ksh.500 from the month of July,”
He also issued stern warnings to those who engage in illegal gas refilling and vowed not to let a small number of people put Kenyan citizens’ lives in danger by saying that he will engage all administrators and security agencies to weed out any gas re-fillers who have not registered their businesses with the government.
“I want to tell all the characters involved in the illegal filling of gas cylinders that are posing a threat to uses of gas cylinders, your days are numbers. These illegal refillers must get out of the market so that we can structure it in such a manner that it benefits the people of Kenya,” said the president. He also added saying, “We want to start to register every person who is filling gas and you must be licensed by the government of Kenya so that we know who is filling what. Some even say that the gas is 5kgs and they have only put 3kgs of gas.”
By Purity Nyang’ara
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