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| Motorists struggling to get fuel at Kindly Petrol station on Friday |
Boda Boda
cyclists in Kisoro Municipality are crying foul as Passengers decide to walk
due skyrocketing of transport charges amidst struggle to get fuel by riders in
the district.
This started
with the scarcity of petroleum in the country that has stayed for over a month
making several fuel stations set their different prices. The situation became
worse when most petrol stations in Kisoro ran dry of fuel leading to a spike in
prices to over 5000 shillings per liter.
For the last
two days, all petrol stations in kisoro district had completely run out of
fuel, following the fuel crisis in the entire country.
By
Friday 21 December, only kindly petrol station had fuel and each litter of petrol was
being supplied at 6000 shillings, increasing from 5500 shillings as of
yesterday.
Kindly Petrol station was overwhelmed by motorcycle riders upon seeing a tanker bringing fuel and the fuel was finished in a short time because everyone wanted to fill his vehicle and motorcycles.
Speaking to this
reporter, a boda boda cyclist at Muhabura stage only identified as Manuwa said
that fares for short distances have been increased by 1,000 shillings but
passengers are not willing to pay it.
He noted
that his only source of income is Boda Boda Cycling and fears that the current
situation may lead to poverty because passengers have resorted to footing.
Other Boda
Boda riders say that they have started missing lunch meals due to lack of
money. By the time of filing this story, Motorcycles were parking at different
stages like never before due to lack of clients.
They are
appealing to the government to intervene saying hiking of fuel price has led to
an increase in the price of other domestic related items like soap, bread among
others.
Our reporter
also tried to find how the hike in fuel prices could have affected prices of
other commodities and found out that commodities like Alcohol, and soft drinks
were not affected by fuel prices because they are transported by cargo vehicles
that consume diesel whose price has remained constant. However, prices of some
food items like bread have been increased.
