Uganda has failed in its bid to lower prices of petrol and diesel in Kampala through a deal to directly purchase fuel from oil and commodities giant Vitol Bahrain.

This is after diesel price in Kampala jumped this week to $1.38 per litre from $1.37 while that of petrol rose to $1.47 from $1.46, meaning that Kampala has overtaken Nairobi as the city with the costliest fuel in East Africa. 

In Nairobi, a litre of diesel is going for $1.32 and $1.45 for petrol.

President Yoweri Museveni last year said that the deal with Vitol Bahrain would help lower pump prices in Kampala, by cutting off “middlemen in Kenya,” adding that they (the middlemen) in Kenya’s government-to-government deal with three Gulf oil majors were responsible for inflating fuel prices in Uganda.

Uganda National Oil Company (Unoc) signed a five-year import deal with Vitol Bahrain and the first shipments of petrol and diesel landed early this month, and are the ones currently being sold in the Ugandan fuel market.