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{
    "id": 1224863,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1224863/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 247,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kajiado County, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Leah Sankaire",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you so much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise to support the Motion by Hon. Jane Kagiri, Member for Laikipia. This Motion is not only important, but urgent. It is very timely when we are speaking about improving our economy and uplifting the living standards of our people. We know that the cost of electricity has risen so high that it has discouraged investors from investing in our country. The production rate of everything in this country has gone down, and that is largely contributed by the high cost of electricity. It is becoming impossible to have food security in the country because most farmers rely on rain. We also have farmers who largely depend on water from boreholes for farming and production. It is now becoming impossible for those farmers to produce because the high cost of electricity eats into all their profits. Running their farms has become difficult. This does not only affect large-scale farmers, but small-scale farmers as well. There are people who only produce food for their families’ consumption, and it is becoming impossible for them to produce because running a water borehole pump uses more money than what they produce in their farms. When we speak of bringing down the cost of living in this country, we must first address the issue of electricity costs. If we reduce electricity costs, more farmers will generate produce, and more people will go into production. Currently, the country wants to focus on industrialisation. We cannot industrialise if we do not address the issue of electricity. Every time industries come up, they thrive for one year before they all close down because the cost of electricity is too high for them to produce. It is high time that we all joined hands to seek the reason why the cost of electricity has become a menace that is affecting the economy of this country, and contributing to most industries not working. This is a very timely Motion. I support it completely. We should not just talk about the high cost of electricity, but also the arrogance of KP. Every time we have power cuts, we have to beg them to bring power back. I live in an estate and just the other day, we did not have electricity. Every time you would call KP, they would tell you that they have to receive calls from at least 10 other people living in the same estate for them to bring back the electricity. What kind of arrogance is that for a company that is a monopoly? You have to call many times for them to bring back electricity. There are some parts of the country that do not have electricity. In my county of Kajiado, there are so many schools, boreholes and hospitals that do not have electricity. In line with this Motion, I beg that counties or places that do not have electricity be connected in the spirit of the Last Mile Connectivity Programme. With that, I beg to support the Motion. I call upon each Member of this House to support it in totality so that we can see what happens. 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."
}