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{
    "id": 1378872,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1378872/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 145,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13588,
        "legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
        "slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, allow me to start by congratulating the Committee for doing a wonderful job. The Committee, led by my good friend, the Senator for Nyeri County, Sen. Wamatinga, who I must commend, has been a champion of worthy causes nowadays. This is one of the worthy causes that he has led his Committee to perform. Madam Temporary Speaker, I must also congratulate the Committee for coming up with this very important and timely Report because, as you know, we are all complaining about the issue of cost of electricity in this country. The cost of electricity is also related to the cost of living, as Madam Temporary Speaker, rightly said in her contribution. I am also very happy with the presentation of this Committee. I think other committees must learn from the presentation that we have been given in this Report; a Report that has smart recommendations, a clear implementation matrix and something to follow up to. I agree with the Members who contributed previously that our standing committees and even the oversight committees must do their reports in such a way that they are able to follow up their own recommendations so that our people get value from our work. Madam Temporary Speaker, the issue of the cost of power is very pertinent in this country because Kenya is ranked among the top 10 countries in Africa whose cost of electricity is very high. We are paying close to US$0.22 per kilowatt hours (kwh) against the international average of US$0.136 per kwh. That is very high. Ironically, the cost of power is higher in some of the developed countries. A country such as Denmark is doing US$0.54 per kwh. However, we cannot compare ourselves to those countries. Let us compare ourselves to Africa; a continent where we belong. Probably, the cost of power in those countries is higher because of their geography and other factors. However, the geography in Africa suits the production of cheap power. So, why are we not able to produce cheap power in this country? There are many factors as to why we are not able to produce cheap power in this country. One of the factors that Members have dwelt on is the issue of these Power Purchase Agreements (PPA); some of them are very expensive. The other factors include operational inefficiencies and corruption in the power sector and economic factors, which the Committee did not deal with. I will speak about it at some point in my contribution. 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."
}