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{
    "id": 1380109,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1380109/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 289,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Tabitha Mutinda",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to support the report by the Committee on Energy led by its Chairman, none other than the Senator of the great County of Nyeri, Sen. Wamatinga, and his colleague Members. They have gone down and worked on the feedback on this Report as far as power is concerned in this country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I join my colleagues on the concerns that have been raised as far as power in this country is concerned. I have heard colleagues champion on the issue of monopoly of the KPC. You and I know very well that any moment there is a monopoly, there is more disadvantage to the beneficiaries or the end user of the commodity. That is an indication mostly by KP. We have cried for the longest time regarding the issues of monopoly of KPC. It is high time the way we saw companies like Safaricom coming in, enjoying a lot of monopoly and then we had Airtel and others that have come up. As much as Safaricom has still been on the lead, it is because of coming on board of other mobile service providers that today we enjoy minimal charges as far as the provider is concerned because of the different competition mechanisms that have been put in place. With different power suppliers in this country, then more innovation will come aboard and through this, there will be more job opportunities that will be created. Where we are with KPC is like a status quo. Nothing is new or exciting. There is nothing more in the market that is different. We are still in the same space. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I want to note and to say that today I was trying to pay for my power and I experienced the challenge of the Mpesa payment because the system is down. I think it is still down up to now unless I try again. That tells you, if I had another alternative apart from the solar issue that has been mentioned by my colleagues, I would go for it. However, I have Kenya Power which is connected to my property. So, I get stuck as much as there are other ways. The easier way, from where I sit, and being a digital ambassador, is paying via Mpesa, which is prompt and easy. However, they experience the same challenge. So, it stalls a lot of processes. The Report has also shown that KPC has not invested so much in repair and maintenance. For any organization to continue carrying its objectives well, repair and maintenance is very important. We have seen situations whereby power has to be switched off for maintenance to be done. This affects productivity and the process that should be taking place because Kenyans have to wait. There should be a mechanism that Kenya Power gives as an alternative. It can be on different lines but switching off power to do maintenance is an old culture that should be discouraged."
}