Gitega: no station has petrol

Since last Sunday, no station in the town of Gitega (political capital) has had petrol. Clients bought gasoline on the black market at up to three times the official price which directly impacted on the transport ticket which has jumped to 50%. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Of a dozen service stations in the city of Gitega, none has gasoline, noted a reporter from SOS Médias Burundi who toured the political capital.

“We don’t even have hope of being supplied soon, that’s why we don’t waste our time lining up at the station”, taxi-motorcycles riders complain.

They say they have to buy petrol on the black market at an exorbitant price in order to keep working.

“A liter of gasoline costs eight thousand francs or even more. Then try to figure out who bears the burden of the price increase”, say drivers of vehicles working in transport.

Indeed, the inhabitants of Gitega complain that the price of the transport ticket is applied, according to the mood of the driver.

A local motorcycle race in the city went from one thousand to one thousand five hundred Burundian francs.

The ticket price on the Gitega-Rutana road (south-east), Gitega-Ngozi (north), Gitega -Bujumbura (commercial city), Gitega-Muyinga (north-east) has also increased by up to three thousand Burundian francs for passengers using public taxis.

Officially, no communication from the authorities or fuel importers to explain the reasons for this new gasoline shortage.

Late in 2022, President Évariste Ndayishimiye had promised he would be personality involved to “end the fuel crisis” in his country, an assurance far from being materialized in the small East African nation having no enough foreign currency despite the multiple initiatives to seduce partners and foreign businessmen.