Kenya government is all up in arms and boiling over controversial remarks made by Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni who described as a humiliating scum of an oil supply deal signed between Kenya and the Gulf states
In 2023, Kenya and Gulf states initiated a Government-to-Government (G-to-G) petroleum import framework with Gulf suppliers like Saudi Aramco, ADNOC, and ENOC.
The framework aimed to ease foreign-exchange and dollar liquidity pressures.
This arrangement was not well received by the Ugandans whose most of their petroleum is imported via Kenya.
President William Ruto described the fuel importation agreement with Gulf states as the best deal for the country.
Ruto considered the deal as climax of akili tupu (pure brainpower) and an innovative masterclass strategy to save the Kenya’s economy.
However, what has been considered as the best deal for Kenya seems to be haunting Ruto’s administration.
Museveni has described the deal between Kenya and the Gulf states as a “monumental scam” that ripped off Ugandan taxpayers.
Museveni also considers this arrangement as effectively a government-to-middlemen scheme that swindled taxpayers.
This deal according to negotiations, the contracts extended through 2027 and 2028.
For Museveni, domestic fuel prices remain high due to global energy shocks and supply bottlenecks.
The Ugandan leader made the remarks while commissioning a 320-million-litre Kampala Storage Terminal in Mpigi District.
Museveni revealed that he hadn’t been aware that Uganda was sourcing petroleum products through intermediaries in Kenya until the unnamed Kenyan senator raised the issue with him.
“Uganda was buying petroleum products through middlemen in Kenya. Can you imagine that? And the person who woke me up first was a senator from Kenya,” Museveni said.
Museveni has been prompted to question Uganda’s procurement arrangements and seek alternatives that would allow the country to source petroleum products more directly from bulk suppliers.
Eugene Wamalwa the leader of Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) has threatened to arrest those involved in the scum should his party win elections.
“We shall revisit this G to G rip off as Museveni has revealed, when we form Government next year. These Kenyan brokers shall be held to account for each shilling they ripped of Kenyans and Ugandans who bore the brunt of high fuel prices as profiteers made billions of shs,” Wamalwa said.
The real deal
In 2023, Kenya entered into agreements with major Gulf-based suppliers, including Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC).
The Treasury said at the time that the arrangement was intended to ease pressure on foreign-exchange reserves and provide greater stability in petroleum supply.
The system allowed nominated Kenyan oil marketing companies to handle the local distribution of petroleum supplied by the international firms.
