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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support this Motion. May I start by commending the Minister, his Permanent Secretary and others involved, for such a comprehensive budget proposal. I am gratified to note that 90 per cent or above of the proposed budget is actually going to Development Expenditure, rather than Recurrent Expenditure. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to make a few comments on the budget. I would like to start by making my comments on the issue of the cost of electricity. There is the real fear that the rising costs will actually slow down or even negate the gains that we have had. Indeed, it may be a threat to our Vision 2030. Earlier in the House, the Minister for Industrialization alluded to the fact that the cost of production is quite high in Kenya compared to some other countries, and one of the factors was electricity. Having said that, I am happy to see that we are attempting to increase the number of those who are benefitting from power by over 1,000,000,000 and, indeed, increasing or investing in the generating capacity. One would hope that with the fixed cost being spread over so many homes - industries and other consumers - the real cost per person will actually start coming down. I would also encourage KPLC to consider what we have seen being done elsewhere, which is to have prepaid metres and cards. If they do so, I believe that, one, it may stop the loss of power through theft and, particularly important, it will also increase the number of people who can consume power for whatever duration of time that they are able to afford, very much in line with the fact that we have even cooking oil in very small units or tea leaves in very small packages to allow even the lowest and poorest of society to consume those particular products. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also wish to comment on the issue of the cost of diesel. I appreciate the comments that it is not possible always to regulate prices. However, it is a bit annoying that whenever you watch Cable News Network (CNN), when international crude oil prices go up by US$2, you see it on your pump prices the following day and yet, we have had a sustained drop in the last two weeks, in excess of US$20 to the barrel and we have seen no change in pump prices. Now, I understand, as a business person, what they are doing. I understand the profit making. However, I think NOCK ought to lead the way, particularly now that we are investing vast sums of money in it. They ought to lead by creating a larger differential than we are seeing at the pump stations. The differential of Kshs2 per litre, at the time when a litre of fuel - both diesel and petrol - are in excess of Kshs100 - cannot justify an investment running into tens of billions. So, we need to look at that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was very pleased to hear the speech that the Minister July 29, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2161 made while on a trip abroad. I wish to challenge him in terms of the opportunities that exist in Kenya. He should consider that there are some areas they can invest in, as a Government, to create business opportunities for people in Kenya. For instance, he talked of transformer manufacturing. Our consumption of transformers is such that we probably have a real chance of creating the capacity or a factory for transformers and their components given their plans over the next five years to switch on one million customers. The number of transformers required in addition to the continuing theft, destruction and normal wear and tear are many. My advice is, while it would be very easy to go there and ask a foreign investor to come and invest, why not do what the Government role is? This is to put in the heavy investment, partner with locals, create technological transfer, create managerial capacity and then go the IPO route which we have done so successfully with some companies. Therein lies the challenge. It is not always a question of getting foreigners to come and invest because we never get our people the benefits. The same case goes with geo-thermal and the coal plants that have been spoken about. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am also very excited by the prospects of small hydro-plants, for instance, in the tea producing areas. We know that they are in highland areas. The rivers in the neighbourhoods are in very youthful stages with deep valleys, rapid movement and therefore, have the capacity to generate small amounts that the factories and neighbourhoods require. This would be very useful to the neighbourhood. It would cut on the cost of production of tea but equally important, the local farmers would get a direct benefit from being associated with the crop because they will be able to light up their areas. Unfortunately, we were asleep when the rest of the world introduced a lot of technology including the diesel engine, internal combustion engine and others. Today, we sit here with the country astride the equator but we are not investors in solar technology. Indeed, we are consumers of the technology from the temperate world. This is a scandal! I would wish that we, as Parliamentarians, consider increasing the budget available to the Ministry of Energy to partner with business people so that we invest in solar technology, not only for purposes of lighting up our country and helping our people with electricity needs but also for becoming people who can sell technology to the First World. That would be my challenge on the issue of solar energy. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am also happy that the Minister mentioned wind generated power. I am glad that there is some allocation for the studies into the amounts of wind available in various areas, to allow us get to cleaner sources of energy which are renewable. I am also excited by both the Minister and the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister for referring to nuclear power. I am one of those who are not particularly bothered by it, for peaceful purposes, I should add, because I do not want to be misunderstood. We will not get out of this era, poverty or current problems if we do not consider generation of power and energy as vital to our success as a country. We do not even have to wait for the estimates as to where we are going. We need to create productive capacity that is way ahead of our requirements. After all, the human race did not get out of the stone age because they ran out of stones. They just decided to leave the stones behind. So, we ought to consider going slightly ahead of the estimates we are getting to ensure that we do not have the embarrassment that is now facing South Africa, a country we consider to be on the front line of development in Africa. It is now struggling to satisfy its own internal needs yet a short five years ago, the electricity generation company, ESCOM, was telling the whole of Africa that they can supply all of us with electricity. Now they are incapable of supplying their own country. I wish to challenge those involved in the sector to continue to lead the demand rather than wait for it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to mention the issue of bio-fuels briefly. We know that they are being used as alternatives. We know that ethanol has been very successful in Brazil. We know that Brazil is leading when it comes to green diesel. Kenya should attempt the 2162 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 29, 2008 same. We ought not be left behind. As I said earlier, we do not want to be by-passed by technology all the time. We want to be in the thick of it. We want to be part of the alternatives because our people need an alternative route out of their misery and problems. Today we have been told and I agree with the hon. Member for Kisumu Town East, but we even have issues with paraffin. Paraffin at Kshs80 or Kshs90 a litre to a person who can hardly afford food is serious trouble. I am probably one of the few Members who is not excited about the prospects of oil. That is because if I look at Nigeria, despite having a lot of oil, I have not seen them benefit. In fact, they have queues for fuel. With those very few remarks, I beg to support."
}