Press Release
THE CAPITALIST ECONOMY IS THE SOURCE OF THE PETROLEUM SECTOR CONTROVERSY!

The recent announcement by the Energy and Water Regulatory Authority (EWURA) of a reduction in petroleum prices resulted in some oil companies undertaking a ‘cold protest' by not selling petrol for several days. This action harmed the general public as well as social and economic life; in the end, EWURA stepped in to suspend BP's licence to sell petrol for 3 months despite the government owning half its shares while at the same time warning other companies such as Camel and Engen.

Regarding this issue, Hizb ut-Tahrir East Africa states the following : -

The source of this problem is the fallacy of the capitalist economic model whose utter confusion is clear in three things: Firstly, due to inherent interest of capitalists it does not essentially distinguish between ‘private property' and ‘public property'. Secondly, charging exorbitant business taxes. And last, the hypocrisy of the ‘free market' concept.

The superior Islamic economic model that Hizb ut-Tahrir East Africa calls to as the sole true solution has clearly defined and separated between types of property by defining ‘private property' that any person may own, ‘state property' that resembles private property save that it is owned by the state due to the existence of public interest therein and ‘public property' that is absolutely forbidden to be owned by any person in any case whatsoever. Public property is inherently created for everyone such as natural resources-major mineral deposits, beaches, forests, roads and anything whose nature dictates its use by everyone. Such types of property can never be owned by any person, institution or group of people since the public would be severely harmed by such private ownership as recently happened, and will continue to occur, under the current capitalist system. At the same time, such property is not owned by the state as occurred under the corrupt communist ideology, rather the state's sole function therein is to safeguard, supervise and deliver such property to the public in the easiest and most convenient way. The Messenger (SAW) refused to allocate salt mines to Abyadh bin Hammal when he was informed of the vast quantity of the salt therein, and he also stated: "The public are partners in three things: Water, pasture-land and fire." The meaning of ‘fire' here is all types of vast energy resources. Islam also clearly defined that the government's role is to take care of the affairs of its citizens as a custodian not to become a tax collector. Rather the state should also be involved in some productive economic activities like its citizens. Third, Islam knows no hypocrisy as shown by the capitalist system that in principle facilitates capitalists exploiting the masses under the so-called ‘free market' model then, on the other hand, pretends to sympathise with the masses through patchwork solutions that contradict capitalist under the pretext of helping the economically deprived by centrally setting prices of key commodities! In Islam, leaving aside state property and public property, all other property is private property where the market forces will dictate prices according to supply and demand without central planning, which also applies prices for services and wages since employment is a bilateral contract between employer and employee only. However where any citizen's income fall short of meeting his basic needs as a human being, then the Islamic State (Khilafah "Caliphate") is obliged to provide the shortfall.

Hizb ut-Tahrir East Africa publicly proclaims that this current controversy is yet another clear manifestation that the world sorely requires an alternative economic model just as it requires alternative social and political models to liberate humanity. The alternative model is the Islamic ideology, not the current capitalist ideology that is severely harming humanity and is subject to endemic temporary patchwork ‘solutions' that contradicts basic capitalist principles!

Masoud Msellem
Deputy Media Representative
Hizb ut-Tahrir East Africa