People's Observer

A Patriotic Kenyan. Observing Geo-politics & Good governance.

[People's Observer @CedrickSike]

If I were Hon. Babu Owino, SUNDAY would be a Go-get-it moment @RailaOdinga 's Bondo Burial. Power is taken! Whenever you foresee a Challenge ahead, trudge forward, accelerate towards the KINGPIN vacuum. They'll catch up later.

[People's Observer @CedrickSike]

'Give me counsel, but be brief.’

[Fatima sabs❤️‍🩹🦁 @fateemah_sabs]

Qadr; If it's meant for you , it will find you.

Sabr; What is written to be yours, is already yours.

Tawakkul; If someone is destined for you, never in a million years will it go to somebody else.

[The Kenyan Vigilante @KenyanSays]

A group called the People’s Renaissance Movement has emerged from nowhere and called for a press conference, only to show up wearing masks.

[Eve Maina @evenmaina]

Ameiba kila kitu hii nchi, yet he cannot suspend his greed for this one fuel issue that the country is crying about.

[Mwai, MBS. @IanJamesMwaiK]

Lakini kwani how much is enough??? Unaiba mashamba. UnaKata Miti kwa Misitu ukiuza. Unataka Nairobi Hospital. Unakula Pesa ya Mafuta. SHA inaibiwa ukiletewa. Kwani how much is enough ???

[Cyprian, Is Nyakundi @C_NyaKundiH]

Kenyans are totally broke, only Ruto and his cartels has money #RejectFuelPrices

[SokoAnalyst @SokoAnalyst]

The streets are calling us very violently...

Sioni akifika 2027.

[Anwar Saddat @AnuarSaddat]

Like they rejected the Finance Bill 2024, Kenyans should come out to the streets to reject the new fuel prices.

The government can’t use kshs 6 billion as fuel subsidies and then increase fuel prices exorbitantly like they have.

This is not a political issue but survival one.

[Willis Evans Otieno @otienowill]

Kenya’s policy cycle increasingly reflects a pattern of endogenous crisis creation , where distortive interventions, particularly through taxation and regulatory overreach, manufacture inefficiencies in otherwise functional markets. The state then introduces corrective measures that are largely palliative, failing to address the structural roots of the problem, and in some cases, compounding the original distortion

[Moe @moneyacademyKE]

This is the first time in Kenya’s history diesel has gone up by Sh40 to Sh206 in a single fuel pricing cycle after EPRA review.

Now something to note: when diesel goes up like that:

— Logistics costs rise
— Transport becomes expensive
— Goods prices will increase sharply.

[Mwai, MBS. @IanJamesMwaiK]

Your Shitty government lied that the G2G deal was to cushion Kenyans from external shocks. But the truth is they were eating good. Very good. They were getting their loot in advance actually.

Kenyans did not enjoy low prices when global prices were at a historic low. Just because Kasongo and his minions were eating and the rule of the thumb is You never speak with your mouth full.

[Eric @amerix]

Fuel Costs:

Ethiopia:
Petrol: Sh118
Diesel: Sh135

Rwanda:
P: Sh204
D: Sh195

Uganda:
P: Sh184
D: Sh177

Tanzania:
P: Sh190
D: Sh189

Kenya:
Petrol: Sh206
Diesel: Sh206

Ethiopia is the farthest, landlocked, followed by Rwanda.

Why is Kenya's expensive?

#RejectFuelPrices

[Chris Sambu @the_sambu]

The recent wave of resignations might have just been theater, while the substandard fuel quietly finds its way into the market, facilitated by entrenched cartels.

Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi failed to offer a clear explanation to the Senate on why three junior officials in his ministry abruptly resigned. At the same time, the government maintains that the country has sufficient fuel reserves, yet petrol stations across regions have in weeks been running dry. That contradiction raises serious questions.

What appears to be unfolding is a familiar playbook: an artificial suppression of supply creates the perception of scarcity. Fuel is allegedly being hoarded, starving pumps and locking out independent oil marketers. The result? A manufactured shortage.

Then comes the predictable next phase where prices rise sharply.

At this point, fuel potentially sourced outside the government-to-government (G-to-G) framework has re-entered the market at inflated prices, allowing cartels to cash in. Stations that were previously dry will suddenly be restocked, at a premium cost to consumers.

Once that cycle is complete and the expensive consignment is cleared, the government will step in to announce a “price reduction,” positioning itself as having intervened when, in reality, the damage has already been done.

Just my thoughts and observations!

[Henix Obuchunju @Obuchunju]

KTN has written an open letter to President William Ruto, asking whether he is still the same hustler who promised to lower fuel costs during his campaign.

The Mombasa Road-based media house questions whether fuel prices were a scandal as he claimed then, and what they should be called now after the recent hikes.

The president has not responded to the letter

[SokoAnalyst @SokoAnalyst]

The President alone has no legal power to reduce VAT from 16% to 8%.

Under Article 210(1) of the Constitution, no tax may be imposed, waived or varied except as provided by legislation. That means a President’s speech cannot legally change VAT by itself.
Kenya Law Reform Commission (KLRC)

The VAT Act sets the ordinary VAT rate at 16%. It allows the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury, not the President personally, to amend the VAT rate by Gazette Order — but only by an amount not exceeding 25% of the 16% rate. That means the CS can reduce 16% by up to 4 percentage points, to about 12%, not all the way to 8% by order alone.

So the legally correct position is this: Ruto can announce, direct, or politically promise the VAT reduction, but the lawful reduction must be done through the legal machinery — either by Parliament amending the VAT Act, or by the Treasury CS issuing a lawful Gazette Order within the limits allowed by law.

Since cutting VAT from 16% to 8% is a 50% reduction, it appears to go beyond the CS’s delegated power under section 6 of the VAT Act. For it to be cleanly legal, it would need Parliamentary legislation, not just a presidential declaration.

@citizentvkenya has reported that the President said fuel VAT would be reduced from 16% to 8% for three months, but the announcement itself is not the law.

[Yator Boss☚ @Bossyator]

Wadau you know KRA are saying no company based in Kenya will be allowed to operate without employees and that the employees must remit PAYE. But here is the most interesting part.

If you run your company as a sole shareholder and Director while you don't have any employees on record, they're saying you should indicate that the company has employed you and you set a salary that the company pays you which will be reflecting in your personal account every month.

From this salary you will then be required to be remitting PAYE before or on 9th of every month.

My question then, is it possible to employ yourself in your company that makes millions and give yourself a salary that's below the PAYE threshold/bracket?

Syllabus ya Taxman is running faster that late Kelvin Kiptum.

[Ohta Ryota 🇸🇬 @Ohta_Ryota]

Can someone tell Ruto to shut up for 2 weeks and let his CSs do their jobs....ndio hata tuskie tunakuwanga na CSs...mans is everything. Hata kazi ya chief ni yeye anafanya. We just need a 2 weeks break. Tupumue bana....

[James @MrJamesKe]

As long as those in power can plunder public funds and walk away untouched, nothing will change. Elections alone are not enough to scare someone who has already secured a lifetime of comfort through corruption. That’s why many leaders act without fear, they know the worst that can happen is they lose office but keep the wealth. Until there are real consequences, corruption will remain a low risk, high reward game.

[Eric @amerix]

No sooner did Ruto finish howling, than the oil cartels fingered all of us!

We refuse to accept this thuggery.

#RejectFuelPrices

[DismasWaTabu @DismasWaTabu]

The anger caused by this government is creating insomnia. I cannot sleep. Millions of Kenyans cannot sleep. We are lying awake doing the mathematics of how badly we are being robbed.

For years this government stole freely because Baba was one call away from calming us down.

Baba is gone.

And this government is now discovering what Kenyans look like without a buffer.

April 14th they hiked fuel by Ksh40 overnight.
Kenyans mentioned maandamano.
Within 24 hours the VAT lever that couldn't be found for four months was suddenly found.

They think dropping it by Ksh10 settles the matter.

It does not settle the matter.

Petrol was Ksh184 in December. It is Ksh197 after the relief. That is not relief. That is insult with arithmetic. It must drop further.

And fuel is just one issue.

There is the DP's Ksh153 million chopper rides.
The Ksh16.9 billion State House budget.
The Ksh10.85 billion that vanished in Talanta.
The two million Kenyans dying of thirst.
The phone torch deliveries.
The nurses. The oxygen plant. All of it.

This government has one choice.

Change. Or face a Kenyan people who have nothing left to lose and nobody left to calm them down. Solve issues systemically and not with road side declaration.

The streets are not a threat and they are calling out loud!

They are a promise that will be delivered soon and without an apology.

Dismas wa Tabu. Dreaming in installments. Billed in full.