OPINION: Fuel Scandal, State Power and the Dangerous Silencing of Accountability

Kenya, April 10,2026 - What happened in Nairobi on Tuesday should alarm every Kenyan who still believes in accountability.

A human rights defender, Francis Owino, was assaulted in broad daylight by goons allegedly linked to a senior government official.

His offence? Calling for the resignation of senior Cabinet Secretaries over a multi-billion-shilling fuel scandal. Journalists covering the press conference were not spared either. They were chased away, intimidated, and effectively silenced.

“Which Wandayi do you want to resign? We have no problem with the media, but close your cameras and go,” the attackers barked as they disrupted the event at Chester House.

This was not just an attack on a man. It was an attack on the very idea of public scrutiny.

Owino, a former president of Bunge La Mwananchi, later attempted to address the press outside the Nation Centre. The same goons followed him there. They unleashed violence again.

This is how impunity announces itself. Not quietly, but with fists, threats, and the calculated targeting of both activists and the press.

And yet, beyond the violence lies an even deeper crisis – one that affects every Kenyan lining up at a petrol station.

Across the country, motorists are grappling with an escalating fuel shortage. Long queues have returned. Anxiety is rising. Petrol stations warn that stocks could run dry within days. Public transport operators are now contemplating withdrawing vehicles from the roads altogether.

But here is the twist: the shortage may not be real.

The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has indicated that Kenya has sufficient fuel stocks.

What Kenyans are experiencing, according to the regulator, is an artificial shortage that is possibly engineered by oil marketing companies hoarding fuel in anticipation of higher prices.

“The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has received reports of an artificial shortage of petroleum products in the country despite the country being sufficiently stocked,” Acting Director General Joseph Oketch said.

If true, this is not just market manipulation but it is economic sabotage.

And it gets worse.

A government investigation has already forced the resignation of three of the most senior officials in the petroleum sector, including the Petroleum Principal Secretary, the Kenya Pipeline Company Managing Director, and the EPRA Director General. Several others face arrest and prosecution over an alleged scheme involving the importation of substandard and overpriced fuel outside the Government-to-Government framework.

The figures are staggering. A single consignment reportedly priced at KSh198,000 per metric tonne – far above the KSh140,000 under the G-to-G arrangement – could have pushed pump prices up by at least KSh14 per litre.

This is not incompetence. It is an organized plunder.

Yet even as these revelations emerge, political voices are already attempting to shape the narrative. ODM leader Oburu Oginga has cautioned against the “public lynching” of Cabinet Secretaries Opiyo Wandayi and Lee Kinyanjui, urging patience as investigations proceed.

He is right about one thing: due process matters.

But due process cannot become a shield against legitimate public outrage. Nor can it justify the violent suppression of dissent.

President William Ruto has promised decisive action, vowing to “deal firmly, decisively and conclusively with all the cartels in the oil sector.” It is a strong statement, but Kenyans have heard strong statements before.

What they are waiting for now is proof.