Survival for the fittest

Uganda is one of the countries with the highest cost of petrol at the pump on the African continent between UGX 6000-7000 (at an equivalent of 2$ per litre), the government has no measures to subsidizes the prices. There is no Price Control Act which prohibits fuel sellers increase at any price they bid.

Whereas fuel prices have generally increased worldwide, right from COVID 19 pandemic total lock down which caused economic depression in many countries, following the UKRAINIAN War that has disintegrated the world’s economic system. Worse above all, countries under Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have cut their collective oil production by a record level of 10 million barrels per day right from 2020 to date, Uganda has seen a rapid increase in fuel prices from January 2022 compared to the neighboring countries, including its fellow landlocked states like Rwanda and Burundi.

Apart from the increasing fuel prices, it is also worse if we examine other cases in line with corruption as far as Africa is concerned. This has caused many people on the ground suffer the most by struggling had to survive in the competitive flat economy.

In this context, it is evident that in Uganda today market forces of demand and supply are strictly controlled by fuel prices since most raw materials are imported. On top of that, most gas stations are owned by government officials who are unmindful about the consequences resulting from the rising fuel prices.

Many business sectors were totally damaged in the COVID 19 pandemic total lock down. On the other side, no upper hand was raised from the government to revive local private business that were affected. Many people are struggling on their own to fit back in the economic system amidst many challenges faced.

Its open that people are struggling in all ways to survive in this challenging situation. since vehicle are consuming much fuel, many people have adopted to motorcycles to save much expenses on fuel. This has caused rampant increase of motorcycles on the roads and their risk behaviors on the poor structured roads.