Wandayi missed chance to lower fuel prices after court order

Last Wednesday may have been his first day in office, but Opiyo Wandayi was also aware that it was one of those days that Kenyans waited with bated breath to see which way fuel prices would go.

He must have also been aware of the judgment by the Court of Appeal two weeks earlier that the Finance Act, 2023 was unconstitutional.

The law had increased Value-Added Tax on fuel to 16 per cent from eight per cent, and the July 31 judgement meant VAT should have seen it revert to eight per cent.

The Court of Appeal judgement presented Mr Wandayi with an opportunity to stamp his authority at the ministry.

He could have directed the energy sector agencies to stick to the law, including obeying court orders, in his first act at the helm of the ministry.

This would not have necessarily been a populist move among the citizenry, whom he has defended passionately in past as an MP, especially when dealing with energy sector agencies but simply following the rule of law. 

His predecessor Davis Chirchir handed over the ministry to Wandayi on August 14, and in his first address, Mr Wandayi noted that he would prioritise affordable electricity and fuel.

Hours later, when the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) published maximum prices for the August-September cycle, it factored in 16 per cent VAT.

As the CS, Mr Wandayi would have been among the first people to be briefed, even consulted, about the pump prices before they were made public.

“To the Kenyan citizens out there, what is important is that they are able to access electricity affordably and throughout. If there is a blackout, you want this fixed in the shortest time possible. Similarly, when you go to a petrol station, you are able to get fuel reliably and at an affordable price,” Mr Wandayi had said earlier.

“The cost of both electricity and petroleum products is due to many factors, some within our control, others not so much within our control  but we must work consistently and consciously towards ensuring that in the long run these critical products are affordable.”

Asked what Kenyans should expect ahead of the publication of the August-September maximum pump prices, the CS just said “they will have to wait for the communication from the relevant body” and ended the press conference.

Mr Wandayi, the former Ugunja MP and the Minority Leader in the National Assembly has hitherto been a harsh critic of the government, including the energy sector agencies, who he has blamed for the high cost of electricity and petroleum products. 

In the past, senior officials at the different parastatals have been on the receiving end of his sometimes angry tirades. He noted that cartels have deeply entrenched themselves in the ministry and captured the electricity sector, making it difficult to bring down the cost of power. 

That he now has to work with the people he has accused of being in bed with cartels and had once even called for the public execution of some of them was not lost on him last week when he took over office. 

“This world is full of wonders. One month or so ago, I could not have imagined that I would be in the executive,” said Mr Wandayi during the handover and went on to recount the not-so-friendly interactions he has had with senior officials of the different parastatals within the Energy and Petroleum Ministry who he now has to work closely with.

“I have been able to interact with some of you from time to time. When I was chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (National Assembly), I interacted with a lot of you. You remember our interactions well. But now, circumstances have conspired and now we are on the same side.”

Mr Wandayi said communicating with Kenyans would be top of the agenda at the ministry. He plans to hold what he calls the “CS roundtable,” which he expects to take the format of town hall meetings with consumers of power and fuel in a bid to understand their pain points and try to resolve them.

“I will be keen on ensuring that we maintain an open door policy. And that we open ourselves to scrutiny by Kenyans and by parliament through and through. In this regard, we shall have to start to take the matter of communication more seriously. The public should be able to understand what we are doing at every other time,” he said.

“As your CS, I will be engaging in regular roundtable discussions with consumers so that we are able to interact and they are able to understand and also get feedback on a regular basis. We are an enabler to the development agenda of the country and there the contribution we make in economic development cannot be overemphasized.”