Single Villan (Ruto) narrative is lazy
In KSh 214 petrol has about KSh 73 in taxes. Let’s go deeper
1.Excise Duty ;KSh 21.95. Goes to KRA. Auto-increases every year under a law MPs have never touched. Nobody marches outside Times Tower.This is actually where the biggest permanent relief could come from but it requires MPs to do real legislative work, which they’re not, let’s see how they play this with the 2026 Finance bill.
2.VAT :yes this is Ruto. Doubled it to 16% in 2023, now cut back to 8%.Saves you ~KSh 17 per litre. Real, but temporary as it expires end of May/June and he anyway created the fire he’s now getting credit for managing.
3.Road Maintenance Levy *KES 25* this is where the devil lives. Sounds like infrastructure. But KSh 12 of that KSh 25 is now pledged to bondholders repaying a KSh 175 billion securitization ;for the next ten years. Every time you fill up, nearly half your road levy goes to paying a loan that was taken during Uhuru’s time . And nobody in Parliament is seriously interrogating how KURA and KeRRA spend what’s left.
WANTAM is emotionally satisfying but it lets too many people off the hook.The MPs, KRA, the road agencies they all sleep better when the conversation stays narrowly on one man.
Ruto deserves criticism. But this system was built by many governments and institutions that will outlast this one.What a shame it will be in 2029 talking about the Same thing.