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{
    "id": 1133947,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1133947/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 182,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Gem, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Elisha Odhiambo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13340,
        "legal_name": "Elisha Ochieng Odhiambo",
        "slug": "elisha-ochieng-odhiambo"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me the opportunity to make my contribution to the State of the Nation Address by His Excellency. As we may all be aware, this is a constitutional imperative that requires of him that he must address Parliament and brief us on the issues facing the nation. This was introduced in Articles 132 and 10 of the 2010 Constitution. Allow me to congratulate him for having exuded confidence in the indomitable spirit of the Kenyan people and for having set his transformative agenda in this House yesterday. Listening to him, I have confidence that the future of this country is bright. He gave us figures, for example, the GDP growth that has risen from 4.7 to 11 trillion. I have feelings that this country will see a better tomorrow. In his speech, he mentioned that we are just about to join the Asian Tigers, that is, Malaysia and China so that we can have a better country for generations to come. Allow me to comment on a few issues that came up during his speech. He mentioned that this country has realised growth in terms of electricity generation rising from 1,300 megawatts to 26,000 currently. What he did not mention, which is important for the country to know, is that this year alone, the manufacturing sector has expanded to the extent that the consumption of electricity has risen from 1,787 to 2,035 megawatts. What I believe the technocrats in the energy sector should do is they must create traction for the manufacturing sector to consume the balance of 565 megawatts that is lying idle. Two, it is important they work around the cycle to ensure that Kenya Power charges ordinary Kenyans per kilowatt. We can actually transfer majority of Kenyans to the lifeline that charges about Ksh5 to Ksh12 per kilowatt an hour. This is so that the households can feel the impact of what the President has done over these years. Other than growth in generation of electricity, he mentioned that we have 70 per cent of our energies, green. It is imperative that the technocrats in the ministry are able to help the country earn carbon credits because this is what is required to spur economic growth for this country. I was happy that he mentioned that a number of hospitals have been built and that Kenyans have better access to hospital services and treatment. This is good if you want to have a healthy nation, but more importantly we as Members must insist that the county governments invest much more on medicine in hospitals and dispensaries. We can build these huge projects and buildings but they will lack medicine. That will not help at all. Finally, the President gave a final compelling remark on a constitutional moment that Kenya missed. He said we missed the 35 per cent revenue that was supposed to be anchored in the Constitution that was going to go to the counties. We equally missed an opportunity for equity in terms of creating more constituencies so that representation in this country is improved. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}