Garissa town is slowly turning into a hub of contraband fuel smuggled in jerricans by Toyota Probox vehicles from neighbouring Somalia through the porous borders.
The smuggled fuel adds to the long list of goods and products trafficked from Somalia into the country, from sugar to powdered milk, cooking oil, spaghetti to clothes and shoes, denying the country the much-needed revenue while exposing the local consumers to the harm of uninspected products.
Apart from the products, illegal drugs, including bhang, shisha and cocaine, are also being smuggled into the country through the same suspected routes and network of smugglers.
Security officials in Garissa say that there are at least 10 selling points in different villages (Bullas) for the illegal fuel.
In Burburis, a village on the outskirts of Garissa town, we arrive with a contingent of police officers, led by the County Commissioner and Garissa County Police Commander, who had received intelligence reports of the operations of the smugglers.
Dozens of motorbike, tuk-tuk, Probox and small hatchback car operators used for the taxi business are waiting to fuel outside the Mabati structure buildings, where the business operates from.
However, except for hundreds of empty jerrycans, there is not a single litre of the said smuggled fuel to be found, with security officials suspecting that information might have been leaked prior to their imminent crackdown.
At the sidelines of the operation, we encounter one Mohamed Sheikh, a taxi business operator who has been fuelling in the subversive areas for more than six months.
Sheikh tells us that the high cost of fuel has pushed many common Kenyans to look for alternative ways of sustaining their businesses and hopes that while the government closes down the establishments, the same government should lower taxes and the cost of fuel in the normal market.
“This fuel has helped us a lot. We have been using this fuel for close to six months now here in Garissa. If you compare the prices with the normal petrol stations, there is a very big difference. For the common citizen like us, we had been suffering with the high fuel prices,” says Sheikh.
“Five litres of petrol here goes for only Sh 700 compared to the prices of Sh 189 per litre in the petrol stations. That is a big difference,” he narrates.
While warning of harsh legal actions against those smuggling and operating such businesses, Garissa County Commissioner Mohamed Mwabudzo said that the government will not allow such businesses to continue in the country.
“We have conducted a crackdown on the selling of illegal fuel from Somalia. This illegal fuel was previously being sold in rural areas such as in Hagadera, but now the business has expanded to Garissa town. First, this fuel is not safe because it has not been inspected by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA),” Mwabudzo said.
“This is something unacceptable in this country. We are warning all those involved in this fuel smuggling syndicate that we will not hesitate to take legal action against them. It is so that this illegal fuel is being sold even in residential areas, putting the lives of people in danger,” he added.
We met with the petroleum sector chairman in Garissa, Mohamed Moulid, at his office, who says that their sales have drastically dropped since the illegal fuel businesses began.
Moulid says that most of the customers now prefer the cheaper fuel, noting that previously the petrol stations were busy with customers streaming in and out for fuel, but now more than 20 minutes may pass without even a single customer.
“We have complied with all requirements of running a petrol station business, and we pay taxes to the government, but now some people have introduced smuggled fuel in this town for a cheaper price,” Moulid said.
“Our businesses have gone down because of the low sales and it is making it hard for us to pay taxes or even our employees. We want the government to take firm action to stop that business immediately,” he added.
By Erick Kyalo
