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"id": 1378873,
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
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"id": 13588,
"legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
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"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, this Report addresses the problem of cost of electricity and gives recommendations, which can help. However, I have not seen recommendations around economic factors. I think that was an oversight because if you look at the tariff structure of electricity pricing, you realize that there are so many components, all which add to higher costs of electricity. If you look at the tariff structure, we have things such as fuel cost adjustment, which means that if the cost of fuel goes up, then the cost of electricity will also go up. We have issues such as foreign exchange fluctuation. If you have a problem with your forexes, the cost of power will go up. We have inflation adjustment. If you have a problem with inflation, the cost of power will go up. We also have other levies such as the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC), which has now become EPRA levy, the REP levy, the Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA) - those hydro projects are also charging levies on electricity - and VAT, which was increased from 8 per cent to 16 per cent. If we are genuine about addressing the issue of the cost of power, we must start by looking at the economic variables. This Committee should have looked at the economic factors as well, so that in their recommendations they also recommend what needs to be done on those economic factors to reduce the cost of electricity. Without looking at those, even if we did some of these things that they have suggested, the cost of power will still be high. So, as we talk about the cost of electricity, we also need to talk about the economy. We all know that the economy is not doing well now. I think that is where more focus should be. As a House of Parliament whose role is to deal with concerns of the people, we need to seriously think of how we are going to make it easy for our people and this economy. So, the only omission I have seen in this Report is that it has been silent on economic issues. Madam Temporary Speaker, on the issue of IPPs, I have heard this debate for many years. When I was a young boy, one of my very early jobs was in the energy sector. I worked with the Energy Regulatory Commission. We started talking about these IPPs in those days and we are still talking about them to date. The faces around these IPPs are known. They are there, benefiting from this industry, but no one is taking any action. We have had several governments; the Moi Government, the Kibaki Government, the Uhuru Government and now, we have the Ruto Government, yet, we are still talking about individuals who are exploiting Kenyans and no actions is being taken. We are not a serious country. Even by listening to the contributions from Members here, some of them were stating that there is very little we can do; that it is only the courts that can do something. We have something that we can do as a House of Parliament. Why are we not doing that? Why are we skirting around issues? We are saying that in 14 days after adoption of the Report, the Ministry should give us full disclosure of the owners of IPPs, but in the Report, we have given the CR12 for those companies. Why are we not going for those people? Why are we not recommending the cancellation of those agreements? We know the problems and the solutions, but we are not addressing the problem. 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."
}