By Mabinty M. Kamara
Sierra Leone has been gripped by another fuel shortage, less than two weeks to the festive season.
Fuel stations across the country started turning back vehicles from last weekend, citing shortage of petrol, the most common fuel consumed in the country. The situation has led to long queues of vehicles in the capital Freetown, Bo in the south and Kenema in the east.
In Freetown, transportation has been disrupted due to the shortage. A lot of commercial vehicles: Poda Poda, Okada and Kekeh – have been spending long hours on queues in filling stations. Some resorted to buying fuel in the black market- ‘jebu’.
The normal price for one liter of petrol is Le8, 500. But Poda Poda (commercial van) driver, Alhaji Kabba, told Politico on Tuesday that he bought the same amount from the informal petrol dealers [jebu] for as high as Le 15, 000 per liter.
Kabba said he had to leave his apprentice to queue at a filling station whiles he ran with the little fuel they got on Monday night.
“Last night we bought five gallons of fuel at Le15, 000 per liters from “jebu” just so we could work today. And mind you the daily wage (master money) I pay to my boss has not changed. So, we just have to increase the transport fare or reduce the distance we cover,” he explained.
On Monday and Tuesday, passengers had to pay Le3, 000 on taxis for a distance that normally should cost Le1, 500.
Some others had to pay Le4, 000 or more for the same distance that they should have paid Le2, 000.
Fatmata Bah, who is a civil servant, said she had to pay Le 4,000 from Kissy to Up-Gun where she stood for more than 30 minutes waiting to board another vehicle to the center of town.
Most of the fuel stations Politico visited on Tuesday were either shutdown because of lack of fuel or had long queues and were rationing their product.
The Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA) has insisted there is no fuel shortage in the country. PRA, in a press statement released on Monday, warned the petroleum marketers against hoarding, noting that they risk facing sanctions if found wanting. The statement assured the general public that there would be no increase in pump price this year, in an apparent attempt to allay fears.
Any increase in pump price is sure to affect the living standards of the populace. One common effect is the increase in transport fares, which also has a ripple effect on basic commodities in the market.
“The Petroleum Regulatory Agency would like to inform the general public that there is sufficient product in Sierra Leone to service users. It must be known that based on projections there is currently nothing to warrant a change in the prices of petroleum products in the country,” the statement read.
Politico contacted top oil and gas companies like National Petroleum (NP), Leonco and Total to ascertain the exact cause of the situation. None of them responded to our request.
But Total later issued a press statement blaming the situation on the lack of foreign exchange which they said had impacted on their profit. The company added that this situation has threatened its capacity to continue importing products on credit, after accruing US$37million.
This is the second time Sierra Leone has experienced fuel shortage this year alone. In July the government raised pump prices from Le6000 to Le 8,500 due to increase prices in the global oil market.
There is general feeling that the current situation could quickly affect prices of commodities like food stuff. Already it has worsened the rush hour scramble for transportation.
Politico understands that certain filling stations in Freetown started selling on Tuesday evening. The PRA leadership was also understood to be locked in a meeting at State House.
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