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"id": 187828,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/187828/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Chachu",
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"speaker": {
"id": 18,
"legal_name": "Francis Chachu Ganya",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my name is Chachu and I am the Member of Parliament for North Horr. I stand to support this Motion. It is very encouraging to see that the Government is 2164 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 29, 2008 investing in substantial ways in the energy sector. Energy is really an engine for development. If this country is serious about realising Vision 2030, industrializing, creating jobs and alleviating poverty in this nation, then, for sure, it must invest in energy. I appreciate the Ministry's policy of investing in renewable sources of energy, that is, what is called \"soft energy\" amongst the environmentalists. It is encouraging to see that about Kshs4 billion will be invested in geothermal production. Over Kshs380 million will be invested in wood fuel resources and a similar amount will be invested in wind and solar energies. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is one Ministry that you can feel in the arid areas or the remote parts of Kenya. In the last four years, most schools, health centres, hospitals and dispensaries have solar power. Schools are now able to convert the solar power into electricity. So, they can watch news on television channels such as KTN, KBC and so on. That was not possible before in the remote areas of this country due to lack of power. With satellite dishes, they are now more informed. Our students are able to go to school anytime, be it in the morning or evening, to study. It is the same thing for hospitals. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, two months ago when I was in my constituency, which is part of the arid constituencies in Kenya, getting from one corner to the other was not that easy. For the whole six weeks I was there, I saw a vehicle, a Land Cruiser, going from school to another, from one dispensary to another and from one secondary school to another, installing solar panels for solar power. I saw it and I was glad that our Government, for the first time, is really investing and is serious about rural electrification. I really want to appreciate this! As Back-benchers, we are very good at criticising the Government, but I think we also have an obligation to appreciate the State when it does well for our nation. I really want to thank the Ministry of Energy for the good work. I can stand here and strongly say that the Kshs11 billion they are investing in rural electrification is a reality that we are seeing in the rural Kenya. I also want to appreciate the fact that the Ministry is going to invest again this year about Kshs300 million in ASAL institutions, which, I hope, will be schools, health centres and other public assets. I urge the Ministry to continue investing in renewable sources of energy, soft energies. Our country is blessed with wind, solar and, hopefully, with oil; if they are able to find oil in Sudan and Uganda - I am told there is a likelihood they will find it in Tanzania, and I know they are seriously exploring for oil in Southern Ethiopia - hopefully also in Kenya, we will find oil. I do not support certain sources of energy, especially nuclear energy. If we have other potentials, and we are able to meet our energy needs through soft and renewable energy that is ecologically and environmentally friendly, I do not see any reason as to why we should plunder and destroy our environment for the purpose of progress and development. The industrialised countries of the north have gone through this before, and we can learn from their mistakes. We really do not have to copy them and the mistakes they have made. The reason as to why this country should reconsider the use of these sources of energy, particularly new energy, is because they have not been that good for mother Earth. We should really critically think and harness other sources of energy that we have in our country. We do not have to go for nuclear power. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I encourage the Ministry to intensify the exploration for oil, gas as well as wind energy. In northern Kenya, there is so much potential for this. In North Horr, my own constituency, the private sector has data loggers and wind masts, but I am told that they are faulty even though they have been there for two years. They have not even achieved the purpose for which they were established. I hope the Ministry, in collaboration with the private sector, will look into this source of energy, especially in areas such as Marsabit and Bubisa in North Horr, because we are told that there is potential. If the Ministry can collaborate with the private sector, this might be a reality. July 29, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2165 As the Ministry continues and intensifies its exploration for oil and wind in northern Kenya, I want to bring to the attention of the Ministry that the greater part of northern Kenya is inhabited by pastoralists and the land is communally owned. Communal ownership of land means that, that land is owned collectively by the whole community. If the Ministry, or the private sector, is going to set up wind farms, establish oil fields as well as centres for generation of power using solar energy, it means that the collectively-owned land will have to be given up by these communities. If that is the case then, I want the Ministry to critically think about the necessary policies and legislation that have to be put in place, so that our communities will benefit in tangible ways from this investment. We are not standing in the way, or in any way obstructing the Ministry from pursuing this interest. We need energy and they should pursue all these sources of energy. But if we are going to lose our land for production of these forms of energy---If wind farms have to be established or if land has to be lost to oil fields, then, for sure, we must look for tangible ways in which we are going to compensate the pastoralists for the land that they are going to lose. I am just urging the Ministry to be proactive in its policies and legislation, so that our communities will not be marginalised further by siting of resources within their environment. Finally, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like this Ministry to consider rural women in Kenya, who are dependent on firewood for energy. These days most pastoralists are settling down. As a result, a woman may have to walk a whole day just to get a backload of firewood. Of late, they are even using donkeys and camels to get firewood, because the distance to the firewood collection points is getting further and further. I would urge the Ministry to think critically and strategically about the need for fuel in northern Kenya, where the communities are largely dependent on firewood for energy. Biofuel may be one solution and energy saving jikos might be another. I am sure that through good research and practices employed elsewhere in the world in arid areas where firewood, as a source of energy, is shrinking we can learn a lot and come up with innovative ways to address this particular problem faced by rural women in Kenya. To wind up, I am disappointed that the new districts, including my own, Chalbi District, and I am sure many others, have not been factored into this Budget. If you look at the Expenditure Estimates, only the old districts have been considered in this Budget. I really hope that the Ministry will consider the new districts that were established by the Government during the last elections and even some time earlier. They should be considered under, hopefully, the revised Estimates, which will be prepared in the near future. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}