By Our Reporter,
HOIMA CITY:
Petrol and Diesel prices in Hoima City have been hiked following the fuel scarcity that hit the city, according to drivers and boda-boda riders in the area.
There are only two fuel Stations in Hoima town serving the community. These are Ahumuza Fuel Station and Hass Fuel Station.
By Thursday January 13, the stations had started experiencing fuel shortages thus causing abnormalities in price changes.
At Ahumuza Fuel Station, a litre of Petrol was being sold at UShs 10,000/= while Diesel was at Shs 8,500 per litre.
Anonymous client shared a receipt of payments to Parrots UG noting that the stations had run out of fuel and motorists were seen driving at a lightning speed to Hass Fuel Station.
The shortages was a blessing in disguise and by Friday January 14, a litre of petrol was between Shs12,000 and Shs15,000 while diesel between Shs8,000 and Shs10,000/= prices varying from one fuel station to another.
‘’All fuel stations have runshort of fuel, and the prices are exorbitant yet we don’t have money, we ask government to intervene in these hiking prices,’’ says Josephant Kyakusimiire.
Another anonymous source at Ahumuza Fuel Station told this publication that prices are likely to increase by Monday January 17.
Boda Boda riders and Motorists in the city are threatening to hike transport fares noting that they’re incurring losses due to price changes in fuel prices.
‘’We have lost a number of clients due to the increased fuel prices that have also increased transport fares. Passengers now have resorted to footing and bicycling because they cannot afford to pay the fares,” a cyclist explained.
Fuel prices have since November 2021 gone high and government said it is not doing anything to fix the prices.
Last year, Prime minister Robinah Nabbanja told parliament that the much as the government has oil reserves, the increase in fuel prices is a global phenomena attributed to global rise in crude oil.
While addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala in November 2022, the state minister for Energy, Sidronius Okaasai Opolot said the government can not do anything about the “skyrocketing” fuel prices across the country.
“The increase in fuel prices is a global trend, we can do little as a country because the price of crude oil internationally has gone up. You can not escape it,” he said.
Parrots UG attempts to get a comment from Solomon Muyita, the Principal Communications Officer of the Ministry of Energy, for a comment on the ‘abnormal’ fuel prices in Hoima City Viz Aviz the reserve prices, he could not be reached.
