Energy Minister Denies Sakunda Holdings Controls Fuel Industry, Explains Forex Allocation

In an interview on Star FM on Monday evening, Energy and Power Development Minister Joram Gumbo denied claims there is a fuel monopoly controlled by Sakunda Holdings.

He said some fuel firms get the lion’s share of hard currency because they have many service stations. Said Gumbo:

Let me give you the Government position and not speculation. The truth of the matter is that what I found at the Ministry is that there is no fuel monopoly whatsoever. Government de-regulated the importation of fuel in 2012, so it is open for anybody. Over 50 companies or entities did register to bring in fuel so that tells you that there is no monopoly. If the monopoly means bigger players are bringing in more fuel than smaller players then I do not know how to answer that. If you look at the companies that bring in fuel, let me give you an example of say Total or Puma you will see that they have a lot of service stations with their emblem, so the number of service stations that they are able to supply fuel with translates to the money or foreign exchange that they will be given in order to feed those service stations. But if you are a person or company that has got only one outlet then you are given what is enough for your outlet. So that is the politics that is there. It is not that somebody is being segregated for any other reason.

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