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"id": 187825,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Shakeel",
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"legal_name": "Ahmed Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to support the Motion. The Minister and the Ministry have done a great job in the last few years. However, like my fellow hon. Members who have spoken before me have said, there are a number of issues that still need attention. The first one is the issue of petroleum. I do understand and agree that we are in a free market economy. But there are times - and times are here - that a little more restraint needs to be put in. Gone are the times when we are going to ask the petroleum companies to regulate prices themselves. They have shown very clearly that they have no intention of doing so, and they will not do so. Time has come for us to restrict the way they increase their prices. If that means price restriction, let us do so. I do understand that the Government is now embracing the free market economy, but that does not mean that it should be at the cost of the poor wananchi. The wananchi are paying horrendous amounts for paraffin, diesel and other power sources and yet, we are sitting back and saying: \"No, let the free market deal with it. Let us have regulation through the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK).\" NOCK has actually fallen and failed us. Let us do it in another way. There is no other way other than the way we have seen--- His Excellency the President of Venezuela has shown it to us. Let us put our foot down. The President of Venezuela has taken steps and Venezuela, as a country, is benefiting. If they do not bring us oil, we will do something else. Why can we not also reduce taxes on oil? I have lived in Europe. Many of us have lived in Europe. Diesel for agriculture is green. The colour is not green but pink. It has a very low rate of taxation and the price is cheaper. Paraffin is cheaper in Britain than in this country. It is really a shame! I would like to talk about the issue of electrification. I am a Member of Parliament for Kisumu Town East. Contrary to the fact that we call it Kisumu Town East, it is mostly rural and part of it is in a slum area. I am sorry that Tana River is not covered, like my friend hon. Mungatana has said. But Kisumu has got just Kshs8.2 million. I was there over the weekend. There are high tension electric wires running above, but there is no power. When we go to ask to be connected, we are told: \"No, we cannot do it. It will cost so much money.\" I am prepared - and I have budgeted in the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) - to pay for transformers. I was told that they cost Kshs150,000. We will pay for them. But when we go and talk to the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), we get horrendous bills. They require Kshs3.5 million to connect power to Rugumo Health Centre and yet, the power lines just pass by. It appears that electricity is going to be for the rich and many of us who are poor, are going to be in darkness again. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in Kisumu, like anywhere else, power bills are going 2160 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 29, 2008 up by 200 per cent and yet, we were told that it will go up by 30 per cent. Those people who were having bills of Kshs6,000 are now paying Kshs12,000, while some of them are paying even more. Many of us are now going round switching off power when we do not need it. That is very good. But the way things are going here, petrol, paraffin, diesel and electricity are now all for the rich! As much as we are putting in Kshs30 billion, it is now time that we had some energy programmes for the poor. Many of us have travelled. I have been to Johannesburg and Alexandria Town. They give the poor a certain amount of electricity literally free. They charge a very low fee for up to a certain amount of unit voltage. We do not do that here. It appears that KenGen makes a lot of money. Likewise, KPLC is now making a lot of money. We have expatriates coming in and earning high salaries and driving good vehicles. Everything else is going on. Mr. Minister, I do feel for you because you have taken over a monster that you have to control. I do not want to sound ungrateful at all, but electricity in this country is going to be for the rich, unless something is done drastically now. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}