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"id": 1549662,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
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"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
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"content": "There are areas where you cannot be allowed to have such a facility. That includes residential areas. If you want to set up an LPG storage facility, there is an expectation that it is in a safe zone, so that if there are incidences such as that one, you do not have members of the public suffering. The committee went into details to speak about that. I hope we will share these recommendations with EPRA and ask them to guide and lead us."
},
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
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"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
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"content": "There is also a need to compensate victims. It is proposed that the affected victims should be compensated through the National Disaster Management Unit (NDMU) whose main function will be to administer comprehensive emergency and disaster programme in collaboration with stakeholders such as EPRA in order to save lives and property. The committee therefore recommends that this report be dispatched to the following institutions. This is what I spoke to earlier. They include the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), EPRA, NEMA, the Council of Governors (CoG), and Nairobi City County Government, for the purpose of implementing within a period of six months from the date of tabling and not from the date of passing. It talks about tabling like they have done. I believe this report was tabled even earlier. It was tabled on 7th August, 2024, meaning six months are almost over. Actually they are over. Sen. Sifuna, in your next sitting, you may want to ask your clerk to check what these institutions have done since your committee did a stellar job of proposing the recommendations. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I must continue saying pole to the families of the fellow countrymen that we lost. I know it is not in our place as Parliament to just send condolences. Firstly, the families of the victims expect that no other Kenyan will face such an occurrence and secondly and most importantly that the victims will be served The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1549664,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1549664/?format=api",
"text_counter": 380,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
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"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
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"content": "justice. The only way the victims will get justice is when those who were running that facility are brought to book, charged before a court of law and sentenced with murder or manslaughter at the very worse since they knew what they were doing and the dangers therein, so that it serves as a lesson. I will repeat this for emphasis’s sake. So long as people know that you live in a country where even if you break the law nothing happens to you, then there is no motivation to respect the rule of law. That is the biggest challenge that we have as a country, the fact that it takes long to conclude even matters that are considered to be serious breaches of the law. This is my last point. Corruption is one of the serious challenges that we continue to speak about year in year out. It is a campaign promise of almost every political party and president who has served this country for as long as I can remember, yet we continue to witness corruption in this country. When the President last addressed Parliament during the State of the Nation Address last year in November, he tabled a proposal which I do not know why it has taken this long. It could be because of our colleagues in the National Assembly. Unfortunately, in the Senate, we do not allocate resources and we have no ways and means through which we can bring it to life for there to be set up a separate division of our courts that can quickly conclude on corruption cases, the same way we they are required to conclude election petitions within six months. Once the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is satisfied that your file has sealed all the loopholes and there is a basis to charge you and you are taken to court, the courts should make a determination within six months. I strongly believe that if we were to start that culture of concluding cases, it will contribute to reduction of corruption cases. So long as people know that the worst that can happen to them is to take plea then they are released and it takes several months before a determination is made on the matter and after that they can move to the High Court, Court of Appeal and all the way to the Supreme Court, people will not respect these laws. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I want to urge colleagues to take time to read this report and support it. We must still call on the institutions that are charged with the responsibility to bring perpetrators of this extremely heinous act to book and ensure that our 11 fellow citizens who lost their lives and hundreds of others whose lives have been affected in one or the other finally get justice. Most importantly, EPRA should put in place procedures to ensure that that never happens again in the Republic of Kenya. I thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, and beg to second."
},
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"id": 1549665,
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"text_counter": 381,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wakili Sigei",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Hon. Senators, I will now propose the question."
},
{
"id": 1549666,
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"speaker": null,
"content": "(Question proposed)"
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{
"id": 1549667,
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"text_counter": 383,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wakili Sigei",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. Members, I will now invite those who are interested in contributing to this particular Motion, starting with Sen. Tabitha Mutinda. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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{
"id": 1549668,
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Tabitha Mutinda",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, allow me to start by appreciating Members of the Committee on Energy for doing a good job as far as this Report is concerned. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when this incident happened in Embakasi, I was able to get to the site. It was an extremely sad day. I saw young children, mothers, men, some people who had lost their lives, and some trying to come to terms with what had happened. Seeing some with their skins badly burnt was quite sad. I am happy that the Committee on Energy was able to take up this matter. Having read the report briefly, on matters energy, different bodies and stakeholders come together or have the mandate to license these businesses, as far as LPG gas is concerned. They range from the counties themselves, especially Nairobi City County, which now offers the business license and permits. We also have institutions such as the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). We also have Energy Dealers Association that were also able to appear. We also have the gas explosive experts from EPRA and the Petroleum Institute of East Africa. This composition of stakeholders is very important because it is them who guide as far as the policies are concerned. Having just briefly looked at the report, these are policies that also talk about construction permits. You have to be given approval to be able to do the construction of a site of LPG. You have to also be licensed as far as the facilities are concerned. So, it is deeper, not just any normal business the way people just decide to operate a specific business. It requires intense policies, intense adherence. Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, if the different institutions were able to ensure that this company, I think called Maxxis Energy Limited, were able to adhere to the standards, we would not be even in this position discussing what transpired. People lost lives and enterprises. I saw business people who had lost 99 percent of their stock. They had to shut down and to restart. From this report I have seen close to 140 petroleum businesses that have been licensed. It is a high time that they get to the bottom to ensure that the standards that are required for one to be able to set up these facilities are adhered to. As I have listened to the Leader of Majority speaker giving his submissions, he has mentioned the issue of corruption. This is not the first time in this country that we see such explosions taking place. God forbid that we do not wake up again in the near future and get such news. I would also wish that the Committee takes it further that the licensed approved companies by the recommended institutions give further report on the current status of these particular facilities such as inspection reports on the condition of these companies. Out of these 140 companies, you realize probably one individual owns like five of them, but the names are just different. If he has decided to do shortcuts, it will not just be one facility, but the five that this person is operating. It is important that the Committee also takes advantage of the report of the companies that are licensed and go deeper to get in to understand their status. Are they The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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"id": 1549669,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Tabitha Mutinda",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "adhering to the policies, to the requirements as far as Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), NEMA standards and EPRA standards? Counties also need to get involved. All these companies cut across all the 47 counties, but Nairobi City County has majority of these companies. Sometimes approvals are given, and yet this company is within an estate, which is an automatic risk. We have a policy that clubs and pubs, should not be next to the learning institutions but because of corruption, this takes place. These institutions should not be near residential places. It should be having the appropriate distance. I do not know even how the construction permit was issued by the same EPRA, yet this facility was within the residential places. The culprits should now be brought to book. People lost lives. That is equal to murder. The law is there and very clear. The security operators and the legal system should ensure they fasten this so that it sets an example to others who are still not adhering. The cases drag and someone is just freed to continue these businesses. Even looking at this report, this business person seemed to have this business under still another name. If they are not brought to book on time, then this brings the risk for more scrupulous business that expose Kenyans to the risk. With those few and many remarks, I appreciate the Committee's work. The culprits should be brought to book as soon as possible. I submit."
},
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"id": 1549670,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1549670/?format=api",
"text_counter": 386,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Nyamu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I have followed keenly as Sen. Sifuna presented that report from the Energy Committee. I am happy with the recommendations. I note that that company that caused this tragedy in Embakasi, Nairobi, had unsuccessfully applied for licenses for the permit to run such a facility three times from EPRA and were denied. The neighborhood had also complained to NEMA about the potential threat of having operations of such nature in such a densely populated area like you know Embakasi is. The Energy Committee has done a good job. I have listened to the report. It is very thorough. And all I can say is that we hope that every single recommendation in that report is going to be implemented. This not only to punish the errant company, but also as a deterrent of practitioners in this space to ensure that the lives of Kenyans are protected and also as a deterrent to these bodies who issue the permits. We should see how they can have a coordinated approach so that you do not get a permit from Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) just to be denied by National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). We should not have a situation where one meets the requirements in EPRA but fall short of the requirements of NEMA and so forth and so on. I have heard Sen. Sifuna recommend that we should have a unified permit for such activities. We should go that direction, if anything, to protect the lives of Kenyans and to have a conducive environment for such operations. Thank you."
},
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"id": 1549671,
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"text_counter": 387,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wakili Sigei",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Sen. Nyamu."
}
]
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