HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 187824,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/187824/?format=api",
"text_counter": 223,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Medical Services",
"speaker": {
"id": 185,
"legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
"slug": "danson-mungatana"
},
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to voice my opinion and my contribution to this Motion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, first of all, I start by congratulating the Minister. I agree with the previous speakers that he has done a fantastic job as far as the work of providing electricity in the country is concerned, and he has been consistent. We congratulate hon. Murungi! But today, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, speaking on behalf of the people of Garsen and Tana Delta, if it was during the Bible times, they would be saying: \"Oh, Kiraitu! Oh, Kiraitu! Why have you forsaken us?\" The reason I am saying that is because a new district has been set up in the Tana Delta. It is in the Government records, but there is no provision for it in the Recurrent and Development expenditure! It is not only that district which is in my constituency, but there are many others which are in the same situation! These Estimates need to be looked at afresh again! We need Government services because we pay taxes. It is very sad to sit here, debate and pass Motions like this and then our districts are not provided for! I have just been sitting here with the Minister of State for Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands and he is telling me that his district is also not there! We request that they re-work it out. If the average is Kshs23 million, they can surely find that from the Ministry. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the second point that I want to make is about price controls. I agree with the previous speakers who have made their contributions here, that the Government needs to be an active participant in the market. The strategy that has been adopted of now expanding the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) is a good improvement. But we would want to see the Government being an active participant in the market. It is the only way, as the Minister said when he was moving the Vote of his Ministry, we will be able to control the prices of fuel. There are countries like Venezuela with informed and pro-poor leadership like President Hugo Chavez; people who can speak to us and they have a lot of fuel that they can sell to us cheaply. In fact, we would want to see him visiting those countries and give us comfort. When the Minister stands here and says he has been shy in price controls and what not, it is not enough 2158 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 29, 2008 for us. We expect Executive action on this matter. It will give us much comfort when we hear that the Minister is going to the Middle East to talk to those people who have fuel. He is going to Venezuela to talk to those people. Then, we can have certainty that this strategy of empowering the NOCK is going to work. At this rate, we are going to have a problem. We are going to have a problem and the Minister must be in the forefront to give us comfort as Kenyans because we do not want the run-away situation that we are in right now. Thirdly, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in his speech, the Minister proposed to allocate Kshs6.9 billion for KenGen to cover the cost of temperental generation capacity of 146 megawatts, including the Exercise Tax levies imposed on diesel, for power generation. KenGen is a very interesting Company. Sometimes, it is almost private. Sometimes it is almost Government. I am mentioning KenGen because it is one of these companies that generate a lot of power to this country and one of the profitable companies that generate a lot of power to the national power grid. But its power source is hydro. It depends on hydro electricity. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is where our problem is as the people who stay downstream on the delta in Garsen and in the Tana Delta. Every time there is heavy rain and water is full in the dams upstream, when this company releases its water downstream the amount of damage that we suffer downstream is unimaginable. We have not seen any form of mitigation measures that are taken by this company to cover the losses of the people downstream at the Tana Delta. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if they are going to put our money; Kshs6.9 billion into this company, the Minister should make some provisions for the people who are contributing to that tax down at the Tana Delta. We have suffered for a very long time. We do not want to continue to keep quiet. We have taken this company to court and they have not helped us in anything. There are no schools or hospitals which have been built there by this company. They have not even compensated our people for the losses they have incurred as a result of the water coming downstream. If we are allocating Kshs6.9 billion, surely, the Minister must have power to nominate a director who emanates from down the Delta so that when they are taking some of these decisions, they can be reflective of the sufferings our people are experiencing. We must have a say in what happens downstream. There has got to be people who can speak for the people downstream in terms of their corporate social responsibility. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me turn to the issue of alternative energy. I want to agree with the previous speakers that this sector has not been properly exploited. When you look at it, there is so much wind but there is no investment which has been put downstream and in some areas in northern Kenya. We would request the hon. Minister to make sure that these areas are fully exploited, especially in the Tana Delta. We have a lot of wind. We are next to the sea and so much wind moves there but it is waste. We want the Minister to consider allocating some money in terms of investment on the Delta side. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is Kshs4.5 billion that is proposed to be invested in the geothermal power. I support this. I watched with amazement the other day, when they were saying that a few years ago, when Kenya started to explore geothermal power, we were at the same level as Malaysia. Malaysia is able to pump in so much megawatts into their national grid using the geothermal power. Kenya has remained stagnant. It is very comforting to hear that the Minister is planning to put Kshs4.5 billion on this development so that we can move forward on this matter. We would request that actual work happens on the ground. This is because sometimes, we have suffered this thing of passing money here and then we are given stories the following year and no work is done. We hope that the Minister will report to us that something good is happening. Why am I raising this matter in terms of expenditure of the funds that we pass here in Parliament? This July 29, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2159 House is being requested to approve Kshs11.5 billion for the Rural Electrification Programme. When you look at the breakdown of those headings, I was shocked to see that Kshs4.8 billion of that amount for Rural Electrification is going to cover cost overruns of projects implemented by the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC). Last year, they brought us a proposal of how this money was going to be spent. One year later, we are being asked to approve Kshs4.8 billion for cost overruns. This is very sad. It will not escape the attention of Parliament and the censure of this Parliament that something is wrong. How can things be so wrong? In fact, we are being asked to approve Kshs11.5 billion for the Rural Electrification Programme when almost half of that amount is going to pay for projects which are not there. They are not going to be part of this year. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we ask the Minister to come out very strongly through the Electricity Regulatory Authority to make sure that these mistakes of cost overruns are not repeated. It is actually a fraud on the people of Kenya when we are given these figures and then we are asked for half that amount. My time is over, but I beg to support with those concerns. Thank you."
}