Murkomen Push for Fuel Price Hike, Arrest of HELB Loan Guarantors
Murkomen Push for Fuel Price Hike, Arrest of HELB Loan Guarantors
Murkomen Push for Fuel Price Hike, Arrest of HELB Loan Guarantors
Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen’s months-long campaign for higher contributions to the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) has put President William Ruto’s recent downward trend in fuel prices in jeopardy.
Every liter of petro or diesel that is purchased costs Ksh18, which goes toward funding the upkeep and improvement of all of the nation’s roadways.Murkomen supported raising the fee to Ksh22 per litre during his presentation before senators on Wednesday.
“I’m working on a Cabinet memo to think of how else we can do what we need to do including tolling. We have proposed the RMLF should be increased to Ksh22 per litre by the year 2025 if we’re going to breach the gap in place.” Murkomen said.
The CS revealed that the fee had not been raised for eight years despite a worsening economy. Murkomen also argued that the Ministry was crippled by pending bills estimated at Ksh700 billion.
“The steady decline in the purchasing power of the fuel levy collection means that there’s a growing backlog of maintenance activities that ought to be done but instead were postponed and deferred,” he explained.
“Specifically, the projection resource need for RML for the financial year 2024/25 is Ksh110 billion while the anticipated collection of that same year is Ksh69 billion, a shortfall of about Ksh40 billion.”
Recently, President William Ruto made a positive public appearance, saying that his objective of bringing down the cost of living was finally coming to fruition.
He said on March 14 that fuel prices will drop more sharply, and the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) delivered on his promise, bringing down the price of petrol by Ksh7.
In Nairobi, Super Petrol, Diesel, and Kerosene will now retail at Ksh199.15, Ksh190.38, and Ksh188.74 effective midnight. In Mombasa, a litre of Petrol will retail at Ksh195.97 while Kerosene will retail at Ksh187.21. Kerosene is Ksh185.58.
Murkomen’s push is likely to scuttle the trajectory if implemented. It is projected that the fuel price will go up by up to Ksh4 per litre.
Guaranteed Jail Term
Kenyans will risk jail terms for agreeing to be guarantors of applicants for the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) loan if the HELB Amendment Bill 2022 is approved.
The National Assembly Committee on Education is getting ready to present a recommendation that will impose a fine of Ksh 10,000 or a three-year jail sentence on guarantors who fail to pay their loans back.
In the past, guarantors have frequently guaranteed student loans at interest rates below industry averages and served as security in the event that the student defaulted.
According to the amended clause, a guarantor commits an offense if they receive notification of payment and choose not to return the loan plus interest.
“Any person guilty of an offence under this Act shall, where no other penalty is prescribed, be liable to a fine not exceeding Ksh10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.”
For years, the Board had lamented that a majority of beneficiaries turn a blind eye to refunding their loans making it untenable for younger generations to get the much-needed funding.
Data from the board shows that as of 2022, 94,216 had defaulted on their loans with total uncollected money topping Ksh10 billion.
Kenyans, however, lamented that the interest was too high with an individual who borrowed Ksh82,980 in 2004 had accrued Ksh540,464 in 2016.
