Hours after the cost of petroleum products shot to a historic high, the cost of electricity rose by 15.7 per cent as Kenyans braced for difficult days ahead as the rise in cost of living reaches crisis level.
And this coming three days into his presidency Kenya’s 5th President William Ruto who rode to power on a populist campaign of lowering the cost of living by reducing the cost of basic life commodities is hard pressed to offer solutions as his promises appear to have been just “hot air.”
Super petrol prices in Nairobi are now retailing at Sh 179 up from Sh 159 a hike of Sh 20 – and the prediction by economic analysts is that the prices will go even higher as the government backtracks on subsidy.
As expected, the price electricity rose immediately after rise of petroleum products was announced by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) on Wednesday night.
Kenya Power in a statement said the price of electricity tokens had been adjusted upwards in line with EPRA’s latest review which meant they went up by 15.7 per cent.
A spot check yesterday morning in Nairobi showed a drastic reduction in traffic as many car owners withdrawing them from the roads as cost of running them rose to unprecedented levels.
Kenyans took to social media to lament the drastic change of fortunes as they expected things to improve since the reduction of fuel price was one of the things Ruto had promised to do in his first 100 days in office.
However, they are some who chose to give the new government a chance to put its house in order and resulted to remaining silent.
