The Vice President of Sierra Leone, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh has today engaged key stakeholders in the petroleum sector to stabilise the ongoing fuel problem in the country.

The Vice President made this disclosure on social media.

“Today, Monday 21 March, I chaired a meeting of key stakeholders in the petroleum sector, including the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and other relevant stakeholder representatives, to take stock of the stabilization measures rolled out last week in light of the global fuel disruptions caused by the current crises in Ukraine,” he posted.

Vice President Jalloh further stated that, “The government will continue to support the OMC to secure products and enhance fuel stock, including subsidizing pump price and establishing a fuel fund to guarantee access to necessary foreign exchange to buy products.”

The Vice President meeting with the key stakeholders in the country comes after calls from citizens and Civil Society Organization for the government to intervene in order to lessen the rising cost of petroleum products in the country.

On 17 March 2022, one of the leading Civil Society Organisations in the country, Renaissance Movement issued a position statement calling on the government to revert fuel prices to Le10,000.

The Movement stated that the rising cost of fuel is causing severe hardship and untold suffering to ordinary men and women in the country.

Renaissance stated that fuel pump prices have doubled in just one year, from Le7,000 to Le8,500 in February 2021 and further to Le10,000 in July 2021 and Le15,000 in March 2021.