EDITORIAL: Let’s ensure cooking gas plan is not derailed

When the cooking gas plan for the poor was conceived and rolled out by the government, it was seen as a master stroke aimed at alleviating the woes facing a large segment of the population amid the rising cost of living.

Under the Sh3 billion Mwananchi Gas Project, poor households were to receive six kilogramme cooking gas cylinders and burners at a subsidised price of Sh2,000.

It therefore came as a shock to learn that some contractors had supplied faulty gas cylinders to the government agency in charge of the programme..

It is indeed a big shame that wanton greed threatens to scuttle the government’s plan of providing poor homes with cheaper cooking fuel.

A new report has revealed that more than a third of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders supplied to the National Oil Corporation of Kenya were substandard.

According to the State agency, it rejected 67,251 cylinders that were supplied by local firms out of a total of 353,000 due to poor quality.

Given that gas usage in the country is still low, drafters of the plan had forecast that the programme would enhance LPG penetration from the current 10 per cent to around 70 per cent in three years.

We also welcome the announcement by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations that it is going to probe this matter. We cannot allow rogue elements in the society to continue playing Russian roulette with the lives of Kenyans.

We urge the government to immediately roll out measures that will plug the existing loopholes.

The government should also name and shame the rogue contractors who set out to derail such a noble project. What Kenyans want to see is strong action taken against these errant suppliers. The project is not only viable but will go a long way in ensuring that more Kenyans have access to cheaper sources of energy.