Of Ewura, fuel prices slashing confusion and the fuel scarcity drama

Reaping what we sow is always the destiny of humanity, and, in most cases we either enjoy the fruits of our sweat or we suffer the consequences of our actions. Whether we like it or not, what we do everyday always have a direct bearing on what we will be tomorrow.

It is always human tendency that when ever they become successful after embarking on an adventure such as a business, they quickly acknowledge their efforts and what they would have done in the past to get where they would be. But, if it turns the other way round and become a complete failure and a disgrace, they tend to play it safe and embark on blame game. In most cases, they blame others for their failures or look for silly excuses, forgetting that it's what they either did or did not do that lead them to that miserable situation.

This rightly applies to our situation in this country. A lot of things have been happening and at the end of the day we end up crying foul without digging deeper at the causes of these problems. The events that rocked the country lately are not an exception. Fuel suddenly disappeared, in fact service stations, over night, ran dry simply because fuel prices had been cut. It's a shame that wananchi had to suffer because of some people who were sitting on their laurels.

The situation was pathetic; the bulk of service stations had no fuel. I was one of the victims of this inhuman and deliberate move. I got stuck as my vehicle ran out of fuel. The little that was in the tank could not take me home. A friend of mine had to come to my rescue as she offered me five litres of petrol she had reserved for her generator. The old age adage that says, where two elephants fight the grass suffers, rightly applied during that period as Ewura and fuel service stations owners were fighting over fuel prices.

The problem with us in this country is that we take things casually and don't mind whether the promises made to us are fulfilled. This has seen most of us being taken for a ride by these politicians. We are tired of empty promises especially during elections. When some of these guys are campaigning, they promise us of many developmental projects and instead of fulfilling them after we vote for them, they disappear into thin air only to come back when the next elections are drawing closer. What surprises me is that even if they cheated us the last time, we quickly forgive them and forget at the sight of khangas and money for beer. This leads us into voting for incompetent people who bring no development at all. We no longer mind whether the promises are fulfilled or not.

On the same footing, when announcing the budget in June, Minister Mkulo promised wananchi that fuel prices were to drop at the beginning of July, but when that date came no one made a fuss out of it. Business continued as usual and even the regulatory body, Ewura remained tight lipped. The same filling stations rushed to raise the prices of kerosene without waiting for Ewura's directive.

It was sad because from the day that fuel prices were expected to come tumbling down in July, and every time motorists drove to fuel stations, their hopes were dashed when they discovered that the prices hadn’t shifted a bit. Asking the petrol attendants proved to be a mere wastage of time as they were also in the dark. They simply didn’t know and in fact they seemed not to know anything.

Many people deliberately delayed to fill the tanks of their vehicles hoping that the prices were to come down but this seemed to remain just but a dream.

As one of those waiting for this day I was then shocked when I came across an announcement from Ewura in newspapers saying that it was impossible for fuel prices to come down because the shilling was not doing well in the financial market. Out of anger, I wrote the following two paragraphs but did not publish them.

“This is absurd to say the least because it had been announced and was expected that the regulatory body will announce new prices for fuel on the 1astof July. Many media organizations ran stories to that effect and I believe Ewura was not supposed to wait for expectations of people to become so high and then after some few days of silence, after the D' day, they drop a bomb shell.

Where was Ewura when the whole nation was building castles in the air. They should have come with a rejoinder there and then quashing fuel price drop expectations. Again, it doesn’t make any logic to ordinary wananchi that after all those taxes and charges were scrapped, the prices remain the same. There might be need for further explanation.”

I really don't know why I failed to finish the analysis I intended to write but what is interesting is that the whole saga has taken a new twist. Barely a month after Ewura announced that it wasn't feasible for the prices to be reduced, they finally gazetted the slashed prices. It now remains confusing as to why they made a U-turn and ended up slashing the prices. Something is fishy here.

It shows that something is not right here. All these inconsistencies should be explained and it won't be surprising if no adequate measures were taken to counter what happened last week. Ewura should have anticipated resistance from the owners of service stations and should have taken measures prior to that. Most of these service providers were arguing that they could not reduce prices because they had bought the commodity at a higher price. This could have been averted if the government had started by slashing those taxes maybe three or so days before gazetting the new prices so that operators could clear all their old stock.

Service providers on the other hand should not be thick headed as it is expected for a business at one point or the other to run at a loss. It only becomes disturbing if the business continues to run at a loss. If a few thousand litres, bought before tax reductions are sold at a reduced price, will this lead these companies to bankruptcy? After all they have been making a lot of money for a long time. It is always normal for these operators to hike prices without thinking twice once Ewura gazettes price hikes but when it comes to reductions, they cry foul.

The whole issue revolves around us. Wise people say what goes around comes around. And, this is exactly the situation we are in right now. We continue crying over spilt milk while we have the power to change the situation. The country is facing a lot of crises right now and what do we do, we watch as if everything is okay.

When I came across one of the discussions on the internet, one person summarized everything when he said: "Mafuta yapo hayauzwi, umeme upo hauwashwi, . . .magamba yapo hayavuliwi.. . ". Which can be loosely translated, we have fuel but it is not being sold, we have electricity but it is not being turned on and we have ‘scales’ but they are not being shed. What else can I add? God bless us.

Bongoblast@thisday.co.tz, symeniah.blogspot.com, 0657651300