Motorists in Uganda are being starved of fuel.
The fuel shortage that was expected to last only a few days is dragging into a month, and fears are rife that the shortage could persist.
Fuel scarcity has again swept over much of country with drivers queuing for hours outside filling stations only to get a few liters, or simply being turned away by the dry nozzles.
Most passengers who went to the villages for Christmas are stranded there. Motorists who are lucky enough to find fuel are paying more for it than the drivers elsewhere.
In fort-portal, Motorists had to pay 4,500 shillings for petrol and some vehicles were grounded because of the high cost of petrol.
The bus fares shot up again and by last evening, passengers from Fort-Portal to Kampala were being charged 50,000 shillings per person.
In Soroti, most fuel filling stations have run out of fuel. Motorists were seen struggling for fuel at Total petrol station. Agip staion along the Soroti-Kumi road was the only station that had petrol.
Boniface Okiror, a driver with Soroti Catholic Diocese Integrated Development Organization, says a liter of Petrol was being sold at 3,500 shillings while a liter of diesel was being sold at 3,000 shillings.
Okiror said it is increasingly becoming difficult to access the fuel. Panicky drivers in the hardest hit areas have been forced to top off their tanks every time they pass a an open fuel station.
The fuel shortage this year started with the January post election violence in Kenya and supplies have since then failed to stabilize.
Fuel prices have remained unstable at some petrol stations in the country despite government assurances that the fuel crisis would be averted by the recent supplies.
