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{
    "id": 140175,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/140175/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 472,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "First, I would like to congratulate the Ministry of Energy. As the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Energy, Communication and Information, I am very excited about what the Ministry is about to do – that is to save some 50 megawatts of power by introducing energy-saving light bulbs. Towards that end, Parliament should be the first to start replacing light bulbs. Decorations can be done using light covers, if we want to decorate the precincts of Parliament. We should start by replacing our light bulbs right here in order to save the 50 megawatts of energy that we need. I am saying so because today every Member of Parliament (MP) is pushing for implementation of the Rural Electrification Programme in his or her constituency. The Rural Electrification Authority (REA) is rolling out the network in the constituencies without considering where the energy is going to come from. I believe that by the time all the 210 constituencies will have had electricity, we will probably be having more power outages than we have today. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I am supporting the Motion, but I am also cautioning that the Ministry should stop using fuel electric generators because some of them are so small that the cost is actually inverse. The more we bring in generators to complement the national grid, the more Kenyans are going to pay for energy. Kenyans cannot afford any longer to pay additional costs for energy. Our industries are suffering tremendously because of the cost of fuel. In fact, we are losing investors because of that. The Ministry of Energy should be encouraged to overhaul the entire power generation system in this country. The Ministry should have a long-term plan for that; even if we are going to have nuclear power to share with other countries, I would probably support such an initiative. The way we are relying on hydro-electric power generation, fuel and diesel generated power supplies, we are really not going to help this country any more because of the erratic climate conditions that we have today in this country. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to urge the Ministry that when they design hydro-electric power generation stations, they should consider certain factors. In the Lake Basin Area, research has been done, and it indicates that all of the rivers in the area should also be used for irrigation. The Lake Basin can feed the whole country if some 400,000 hectares of land are irrigated naturally using the rivers’ water. We need water from these rivers and, therefore, we also need to save our forests, so that we can have adequate rainfall to fill these rivers. I am talking about the rivers in the northern part of the Mara Forest, all the way to the rivers in Trans Nzoia District. All those rivers should be used for power generation as well as for natural irrigation. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}