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{
"id": 197951,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197951/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Eng. Gumbo",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Rarieda",
"speaker": {
"id": 24,
"legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
"slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was excited by the position of His Excellency the President about Vision 2030. That is a very ambitious programme. But every time I look at the methodology for achieving that vision, some very vital elements have been left out. That is the element of providing adequate energy. Most of you may not know it but, Kenya, as it stands today - and allow me to use the word - is still fairly a very backward society. Almost 70 per cent of our energy needs still come from wood fuel. The fossil fuels, that is, if you like, petroleum, only provides about 20 per cent, with electric power providing 10 per cent and the rest 2 per cent comes from alternative sources of energy. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if we aspire to be a truly industrialized nation, then we cannot expect to achieve the goals that we want without a requisite investment in energy. That is not gainsaid. Recently, you heard the Investment Council in South Africa advising the Government to stop promoting South Africa as an investment destination purely because their programmes are now not able to cope with the shortages they are having in their power supply. I, therefore, want to submit that, for us to achieve the goals of Vision 2030, it is very important that we undertake massive investments in energy. Those investments actually does not require the sort of donor-dependent investments that we are talking about. Sometimes, I consider it ridiculous that some countries in the temperate world, which only have two hours of sunshine, actually generate more solar energy than all the energy generated in Kenya. Why do we not take bold steps to start more wind pumps, biogas plants and intensive exploration of petroleum in our country? Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President's Speech talked about the need to elect mayors directly. I commend him for that. But I want to suggest that, in addition to electing mayors directly, I think that, perhaps, now it is the time that we started paying our councillors from the Exchequer. I say that because some of us come from rural constituencies and the revenue that some of those councillors collect is not enough for their sustenance. Therefore, they actually become a burden to March 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 107 us with the effect that they are no longer able to discharge their duties properly. Mr. Speaker, Sir, finally, there has been proposed a legislation for registration of engineers. I want to propose that the professionals in the building and construction industry, that is the engineers, architects, quantity surveyors and surveyors--- At the moment, there are Acts and regulations governing their payments. Those are spread all over the Ministry of Roads and Public Works, the Ministry of Housing, the Architectural Association of Kenya and the Association of Engineers of Kenya. I want to propose that, at some stage, this honourable House should consider having a common legislation to govern the remuneration of professionals in this industry. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I beg to support."
}