By Kepher Otieno - Reporter
Kenya, 19 May 2026 - Matatu operators have suspended their strike over fuel prices for seven days after Deputy President Kithure Kindiki convened an emergency meeting with sector leaders at Harambee House on Tuesday.
The government’s emergency response team, comprising senior Cabinet Secretaries John Mbadi (Treasury), Davis Chirchir (Transport), Opiyo Wandayi (Energy and Petroleum), and Kipchumba Murkomen (Interior), engaged with transport operators and other stakeholders in a bid to ease public anger.
Reading from the deliberations, Interior CS Murkomen said the parties had agreed to suspend the strike for seven days to allow more time for negotiations between the government and public service vehicle (PSV) owners.
DP Kindiki had on Monday assured Kenyans that the government was fully in control of the situation, despite President William Ruto’s absence while attending a housing summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Following a day of protests, government officials and stakeholders held closed-door discussions, after which the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) revised fuel prices in response to mounting public pressure.
In its latest review, the regulator said that the price of diesel has been reduced by KSh10.06, but the price of kerosene has increased by KSh38.60 per litre. The price for super petrol will remain unchanged.
Until 14 June 2026, motorists in Nairobi will pay KSh214.25 for Super Petrol, KSh222.86 for diesel, and KSh191.38 for kerosene.
In Mombasa, Super Petrol will retail at Ksh211.09, diesel at Ksh229.58, while kerosene will cost Ksh188.09.
Motorists in Nakuru will pay Ksh213.15 for Super Petrol, Ksh232.27 for diesel, and Ksh190.81 for kerosene.
In Eldoret, Super Petrol will retail at Ksh213.92, diesel at KSh 233.09, while kerosene will cost KSh 191.63.
“The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has recalculated the maximum retail pump prices that will be in force from 19th May 2026 to 14th June 2026 following a petition by public transport sector operators on the need to minimize the risk of motor fuel adulteration that may arise due to the big price differential between Diesel and Kerosene,” EPRA stated.
On Monday, Prof Kindiki had assured that the government was doing what it could to break the deadlock and cushion Kenyans against skyrocketing fuel prices and high cost of living.
He moved swiftly to steady the national mood, urging calm amid mounting protests and warning against what he termed “economic sabotage” disguised as public dissent.
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Speaking from his rural Irunduni home in Tharaka-Nithi during a consultative forum with grassroots leaders, Prof Kindiki sought to frame the fuel crisis not as a domestic policy failure, but as the unavoidable consequence of geopolitical turmoil linked to the escalating conflict involving Iran.
Prof Kindiki revealed that emergency response team comprising senior Cabinet Secretaries John Mbadi, Davis Chirchir, Opiyo Wandayi and Kipchumba Murkomen had been tasked with engaging transport operators and other stakeholders in a bid to contain public anger.
In a robust defence of the Kenya Kwanza administration, Kindiki argued that the government had, until the latest global oil shock, successfully driven fuel prices down from KSh 218 to KSh 171 per litre through “deliberate and innovative strategies”.
He insisted critics were being intellectually dishonest by portraying the crisis as uniquely Kenyan.
“Show us one country in the world where fuel prices have not risen,” he challenged, casting the issue as part of a broader international economic storm rather than a local governance failure.
The Deputy President also unveiled the scale of state intervention designed to cushion consumers, citing a reduction in VAT on petroleum products from 16% to 8% and heavy injections into the fuel stabilisation fund. According to Kindiki, without those measures, pump prices could already have spiralled to between Sh300 and Sh400 per litre — a scenario that would have deepened the cost-of-living crisis gripping households across the country.
Yet while acknowledging Kenyans’ constitutional right to protest, the DP drew a sharp distinction between lawful demonstrations and what he described as orchestrated chaos. In language clearly aimed at opposition forces seeking political mileage from public frustration, he warned against looting, violence and destruction of property.
“It is unpatriotic,” he declared, “for anyone pursuing political capital to incite Kenyans into acts of anarchy under the guise of demanding lower fuel prices.”
His remarks underscore growing anxiety within government circles that the economic pressure cooker could mutate into wider political unrest at a time when many citizens are already straining under high living costs, taxation disputes and sluggish economic recovery.
Kindiki’s appearance also carried a strategic political undertone. Beyond defending the administration’s handling of the fuel crisis, he sought to reassure marginalised regions that development promises remain intact despite fiscal turbulence. He announced that the National Infrastructure Fund had accumulated Sh350 billion earmarked for water, energy and infrastructure projects set to begin next year, particularly in arid and semi-arid counties such as Tharaka.
For the Kenya Kwanza government, the challenge is now twofold: containing public outrage over runaway fuel prices while convincing an increasingly sceptical electorate that global events — not domestic mismanagement — are to blame. Whether that message resonates on the streets remains the defining political question of the moment.