fake fuel in Uganda. If valid, these complaints will have a farreaching impact

One person wrote:

Dear all, Read the email below. I have been having this problem with the car for a while now and there are many of my workmates experiencing the same. I don’t know if you have also gone through this.

Another one wrote:

Ladies and Gentlemen Those of you who normally use fuel in a no. of engines especially petrol engines (cars, generators, etc); you might be already experiencing mulfunctions. Some collegues have shared with me their disagreements with their mechanics, close pals and even spouses on issues concerning mulfunctions of their engines especially in the morning, ie one party accusing the other for either doing shoody work or mis-handling the engine. This problem seems to be on a rapid increase yet each of us might think its a specific problem with your car engine yet its actually general. Many fuel dealers seem to be mixing paraffin (BIK) with petrol (PMS) in order to maximise sales since BIK is cheaper. The risks we face are;1- The engine plugs are easily won out so you might have to replace them even before its due for service.2- The engine becomes much weaker in performance, ie speed, acceleration ,etc3- Many of you are already experiencing failure by the engine to start especially in the morning and even when it starts you cannot easily drive away unless you first accelerate for some minutes or leave the engine at idling for about 20 min.4- The fuel seals with in the valves, the injector nozzle/caburator, the pistons in the combustion chambers are all destroyed.5- The cost of a fuel pump may range between 150,000/= to even 2,000,000/= or more depending on the type of engine.6- Ultimately all our engines will have to be overhauled. Unfortunately, am told that the mandate to enforce quality standards here belongs to UNBS and or Min. of Energy (am yet to confirm). No wonder cos. like Shell are now closing business; But where are we heading to? How do we"BREAK THE SILENCE"? any experiences /suggestions? “We can not afford to keep silent when criminal acts are happening amidst us…”

One gave an insight: Hi all,I think much as we want to get the good fuel stations, we probably need to get a few people to share this issue as a concerned citizen with any of our friends in the press. This way, we can begin to talk about it for the good of other Ugandans who are going through the same thing. That’s what breaking the silence means to me.

Someone hinted on a similar issue: I had a similar problem. The car is diesel. Climbing was very diffecult and alot of fumes. I did service twice in one week thinking it was a mistake done during servicing. How can we know which stations have genuine fuel? thanks for sharing this

Others were so dumbfounded: Oh my God! I was blaming the mechanic who serviced my car for not changing the plugs and was going back tomorrow. Tufudde!!!

Apportioning blame: I was blaming the car dealer. My hummer kibina is quite new and I am experiencing the same problem. What should we do?

The blaming game continued: Imagine I was blaming my mechanic that he must have misplaced something in the vehicle till he advised me to be warming the vehicle for at least 5 minutes!!!So, such info is very important!

Some simply lamented: Hmmm! I thought I was the only one experiencing the problem.

Well similarities abound: This is incredible!, I have been experiencing the same problem, infact last week end I had to take my car to the garage& change the plugs, they checked & eventually changed the fuel filter and the problem persisted , finallly on monday I had to change/buy  the fuel pump. I also noticed my engine was not performing at the normal power. Something is very wrong, where can we go for redress?!

Any good news?: Not good news at all! Now one wonders about those stations that have cheap fuel…

The concern continues: It is really pathetic. I am told that the safe petrol stations may only be like Total. I have tried Shell and Engen but the problem continues. Some of my workmates have had to have an engine overhaul and others have had to have the car decarbonized. I don’t know what that entails but they say it is quite costly.

Experience on Entebbe road: We have experienced. We went with the Corolla to Entebbe last week and it could hardly go beyond 60km. In fact while still on the same trip it stalled, we had to call a mechanic to work on it there. The problem of staring in the morning has gone on for some time now. Last week were told that one of the plugs needs replacement. It is pathetic!!