Court gives Mbadi, Wandayi 14 days to respond to fuel price case

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi and his Energy and Petroleum counterpart Opiyo Wandayi. [File, Standard]

The High Court has given the Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi and his Energy and Petroleum counterpart Opiyo Wandayi 14 days to file their responses in a petition challenging the fuel price hike.

Justice Roselyne Aburili gave Mbadi and Wandayi, Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) and Attorney General a final chance to file their responses in a case seeking orders stopping the increase in fuel prices in the country.

Justice Aburili directed the respondents to file and serve their responses within 14 days before July 2, 2026 for further directions.

The judge issued the directive after the Petitioner Francis Awino, a Nairobi resident informed the court none of the respondents including the CSs, and other government agencies are yet to file their responses to his petition challenging the process used to review fuel prices.

During the proceedings, petitioner Awino told the court that although the government had since lowered fuel prices, his case was not solely about the cost of fuel but rather the legality and constitutionality of the process used in arriving at the pricing decisions.

Awino maintained that the issues raised in the petition remain unresolved and argued that he could not withdraw the matter merely because prices had been reduced.

The activist is seeking orders stopping the government from hiking petroleum prices beyond what was announced by the EPRA on May 15, 2026.

In his petition, Awino accuses the government and energy sector regulators of violating the Constitution by imposing what he terms an economically punitive burden on Kenyans without adequate transparency and public participation.

He argues that despite the government's deployment of approximately Sh5 billion from the Petroleum Development Levy Fund to subsidise diesel and kerosene prices, and a reduction of VAT on petroleum products to eight per cent, fuel prices remained excessively high.

"Pending the inter-partes hearing of this application, the court be pleased to issue a conservatory order suspending the continued implementation and/or enforcement of the maximum retail petroleum prices announced by EPRA for the period May 15, 2026 to June 14, 2026, in so far as they relate to the impugned increment in Super Petrol and Diesel," Awino states in court papers.

He also wants the court to compel CS Mbadi and EPRA to disclose within seven days a detailed breakdown of how the May-June 2026 pump prices were arrived at, including landed costs, taxes, levies, margins, exchange rate assumptions and the application of the Sh5 billion subsidy.

"Despite the foregoing tax intervention and the utilisation of public funds from the Petroleum Development Levy Fund, the price escalation remains acute and the public has not been provided with a full and intelligible breakdown showing how the said interventions were factored into the final pump prices," he states.

Awino further argues that the lack of disclosure on the pricing formula violates constitutional principles of accountability and access to information.

"The failure to fully disclose the pricing build-up, the formula used, and the details of the PDL subsidy violates the right of access to information and the constitutional principles of public finance, openness and accountability," he states.