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{
    "id": 187531,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/187531/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 195,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Foreign Affairs",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this country, like many countries in the tropics, has enormous sun energy, which can be converted into solar energy. I would want to urge the Ministry to invest a little more money into providing solar panels to, at least, all secondary schools in the country if we have to catch up with the teaching of ICT in these schools. If we are to wait for all secondary schools to be connected to the national grid, then we are talking of arresting and retarding the growth of ICT development in rural areas, which carry the majority of our population and giving advantage to students and schools in urban areas, or, where there are rural schools, those few that have been connected to power. Equally, we have a lot of wind energy, particularly in Marsabit and Lamu areas of this country. We can exploit those and boost our energy reservoir. Equally, you know that in terms of geothermal reserves, Kenya is only second to New Zealand in terms of quantum. We have the capacity to generate up to 4,000 megawatts of power from geothermal sources lying between Lake July 30, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2239 Naivasha and Lake Baringo in the Rift Valley. If we were to invest more money in this, then our hope to achieve a new status becomes even more realistic. I know that we have the power pool for Southern Africa that we want to hook in, but we also know that even South Africa is suffering power shortages. We must look internally to generate power to turn the economy to the direction that we want. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, electricity is very critical to rural development, particularly when we talk of youth enterprises, Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) in the rural- urban centres, but these youths we are trying to urge to get into these enterprises will not realise what we are driving them into if the cost of power continues to skyrocket at the rate it is doing so today. Something has to be done to cushion those who are coming up in investments from astronomical power bills. This country is surrounded by neighbours that have made very positive explorations and discoveries of oil. The Sudan and Uganda have discovered oil on Lake Kivu, and Ethiopia has discovered some positive signs of oil. I think that if we intensified efforts of exploration in this country in areas bordering the Sudan and the northern frontier areas of this country, I am sure that we could strike oil that would be a major boost to our economic growth, a major boost to the realization of our economic indicators. Having oil will also be helpful in getting fertilizers, because they are chemical based, to boost agriculture; as you know the cost of farm inputs has become unaffordable. With those few remarks, I beg to support. Thank you"
}