Petroleum Cabinet Secretary John Munyes has been fined Ksh500,000 after he failed to appear before the National Assembly Committee on Finance to answer for the increase in fuel prices on Tuesday, October 12, 2021.
Reports indicate that the CS wrote to the committee informing them that he is currently in South Sudan on official duty.
National Assembly Finance and National Planning Committee Chairperson Gladys Wanga stated that Munyes' absence indicates that he is uncooperative.
Petroleum CS John Munyes and his Devolution counterpart Charles Keter. |Photo| Courtesy|
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On October 5, the committee was allowed an additional seven days to investigate the criteria that was employed in hiking the fuel prices.
The Wanga-led committee has since engaged all stakeholders and held virtual meetings with them as well as received written submissions.
They include; the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), National Treasury, and the Ministry of Petroleum.
The probe by the Committee originated from a petition which sought to vacate value added tax (VAT) from the costing of fuel products as a means to bring relief to Kenyans.
While appearing before the Senate on October 5, Munyes ruled out any fuel price reduction, blaming the National Treasury for failing to release Ksh.24 bllion meant for price stabilisation.
“Out of the Sh32 billion from the Petroleum Development Fund, we spent Sh8.6 billion in the five months to stabilise fuel prices. We did not receive any money in September,” he explained.
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