HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 187827,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/187827/?format=api",
"text_counter": 226,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Githae",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Local Government",
"speaker": {
"id": 159,
"legal_name": "Robinson Njeru Githae",
"slug": "robinson-githae"
},
"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to support the Vote for the Ministry of Energy. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me start by congratulating and commending the Minister for his vision of supplying every home in the Republic of Kenya with electricity. I would also wish to congratulate the corporations under him; KenGen under the leadership of Mr. Njoroge, Rural Electrification under the leadership of Mr. Ayieko and the Kenya Power and Lighting Company under the leadership of Mr. Njoroge, not forgetting the Permanent Secretary Mr. Nyoike for coordinating all these activities. I think these are some of the few parastatals in this country that mean well and are determined to bring power to the whole country. As I say this, I must also tell them that there is a problem that has come up as a result of privatisation of electrical works. This is the theft of transformers. I think it is not enough to start blaming the so-called scrap metal dealers. We are now seeing situations where a whole transformer is stolen. I suspect this is being done by the contractors you have given these jobs. These thieves have no respect even for Members of Parliament. My transformer was stolen! A whole transformer, which was next to my farm was stolen! That could not have been a scrap metal dealer. It must have been somebody who was given a contract and was going to use the transformer. I would recommend to the KPLC or Rural Electrification Authority that when giving out the transformers, please, get their serial numbers. Let every contractor paint his transformer in a different colour so that this theft does not go on. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, initially, I thought it was political sabotage in my constituency when everyday we were losing transformers. I only realised later that it was theft. The same case applies to wires. Tell the manufactures to paint or coat the wires in different colours. They could also have a serial number or something you can use to trace them, the way it is done for petrol. If you do not do that, whatever work you are doing will go down the drain. So, we need to take that head on and come up with a solution. We need to know what the problem is. When people start vandalising public property, then we are in serious trouble. Many speakers have spoken about lack of oil in Kenya. I do not believe that God hates this country so much that he can give oil to our neighbours, Uganda, Sudan and Tanzania where there is gas and yet we have a lot of churches that pray for people to get wealth. Why can we not give this function to the bishops so that they can pray for this country in order for us to get oil? If they can pray for somebody who is on crutches to walk and run, I believe they can also pray so that we get oil. Let us set aside one day for prayers so that we can get oil. I think this will sort out some of our problems. Even as we commend KenGen for the work they are doing, I think they also need to co- ordinate their activities. I was shocked the other day to hear that the power generating stations that KenGen says belong to them are really not theirs. They never paid for them. That shocked some of us who are shareholders of KenGen. If really these power stations are not theirs, then our shares are worthless! They need to co-ordinate this. I would like to call upon the management of KenGen to July 29, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2163 reassure the shareholders that they actually own those power stations. If that is not the case, then they misled us. So, they need to assure us that they own those power stations. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must also think outside the box. The sugar companies make power from bagasse, that is, sugar-cane waste and molasses. In my constituency, we have rice. Why can KenGen not think of using rice husks to produce electricity? With regard to biogas, we claim that 80 per cent of Nairobians live in slums. Why can we not make use of the waste that comes out of these slum areas to produce electricity? Let us produce electricity from the biogas that is produced there. We need to start thinking outside the box. I also support nuclear power. We should go nuclear and even come up with nuclear power stations. What is wrong with producing the first African nuclear bomb in this country? We must think big so that we can even create a department at the University of Nairobi to deal with that issue. So far, we only have one nuclear scientist, Mr. Ngw'eno. He could not get a job and, therefore, he started publishing a magazine called \"Weekly Review\". He could not get a job and yet he was one of the first African nuclear scientists. There is nothing wrong in having a nuclear power station or even the first nuclear bomb in this country. There is nothing wrong! In fact, it will give our students an opportunity to learn something. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with regard to the pipeline, we should be thinking of one from Uganda to Kenya and another one from Tanzania to Kenya so that we can benefit from the resources that they have, that is, oil and gas. As I said, we must think outside the box. I would like to urge KenGen to assist tea factories. One of the reasons why farmers want to uproot their tea crop is because the biggest cost they incur is power. In most of those tea factories, there are small water falls. So, perhaps, KenGen could come up with a system of having many small hydro- powered systems specifically for the tea factories so that farmers can reduce their cost of power. That way, they will not think of uprooting the tea crop. Kenyans have planted a lot of trees to sell as posts to Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC). However, there does not appear to be a formal system of how these farmers are going to benefit. When tenders for posts are advertised, there is no provision for giving priority to farmers who have planted the blue gum Trees. I would, therefore, like to request KPLC, now that the trees are maturing, to come up with some kind of a programme where they would buy these trees from farmers and then treat them the way they normally do. Farmers who plant these trees need to benefit. The trees are almost mature, but there is no programme on how those trees are going to be sold. Farmers have spent a lot of money planting these trees and they need assistance. I am glad that all the Chief Executives are here. I am sure they are listening. They need to come up with a programme on how we can help our farmers so that they can benefit from these trees. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there must also be a programme to protect our environment. If we destroy our forests, dams will lack water and we will revert to the situation we were in a few years ago. So, it is important for both KenGen and KPLC to come up with a programme of protecting our forests and water towers so that we do not destroy our environment and in the process miss water. Lastly, I would like to ask the Minister to come up with a new corporation. I would call it \"Street Lights Corporation\" and it would be in charge of installing street lights on every road and highway. Once we do that, security in the country will improve. If we could have street lights along our highways and not necessarily along our streets, this will improve our security and we will benefit. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few words, I beg to support."
}