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"id": 206419,
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, allow me to support this Motion and congratulate Prof. Ayiecho Olweny for bringing it to the Floor of the House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, co-generation of electricity which we need in this country will come from bagasse. We have over six factories with the capacity to generate power. 3550 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 29, 2007 You will find that the bagasse that they use is a wasted raw material. The material is in such a great supply that the factories which use it mainly for firing turbines cannot use all of it. They end up burning the excess bagasse in open air. This is done to the extent that they are an environmental threat. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we were to produce this bagasse to produce electricity in all our sugar factories in Kenya, it would result in direct benefit to the farmers, communities, factory owners and the Government. It will have the effect of lowering the cost of production. That would result in higher prices to farmers who produce sugar-cane. Eventually, this will lead to lower prices in the cost of sugar that we consume. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a lot has been said about sugar, but nobody dares to say that sugar-cane is a strategic crop. It is not a food crop. We know many countries in this world which go on growing sugar-cane, but instead of concentrating on the production of table sugar only, they use it for other things. Molasses, for example, is the basis of production of alcohol. Alcohol is used in virtually every chemical industry, including production of medicines. Alcohol is a known preservative. There are many other things produced from alcohol. Apart from other by- products, the end result is that countries like Brazil which produce sugar have their sugar much cheaper. They are cheap to the extent that they are able to dump their excess sugar to our market through COMESA. We will not be very wise, indeed, if we were not to use this opportunity to ensure that we also reduce our cost of production so that we can become competitive in the world market. Currently, Kenya is not self-sufficient in power production, and co-generation would contribute to additional output to the national power grid. I want to say that, in fact, in Kenya there is one thing that people have forgotten that is happening right now in front of us. We have concentrated on the use of hydro-electric power from our various water sources, and 90 per cent of these are located on the Tana system, which is only one river. I dare say that this is not strategic whatsoever, because if anything happens to the catchment areas, which is already happening in the Mt. Kenya region, where afforestation is a problem and catchment areas have not been protected because of human habitation and influence--- If this river dries up, we will have no electricity. Even in western Kenya, where you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, come from our rivers are threatened because of poor environmental management. Our catchment areas are now not protected well enough; so, even if we were to set up more power generation projects in those areas, we would still never be self-sufficient in the long run. But what worries me most is the fact that, even though people say that hydro-electric energy is cheap, Uganda is now expanding its hydro-electric power generation capacity by the construction of additional dams. The end result is that the out-flow of water from Lake Victoria is much higher than the in-flow of water into it from rivers such as the Mara, the Kuja, the Miriu, the Nyando, the Yala and the Nzoia because the catchment areas have not been protected. This has resulted in the fact that the level of Lake Victoria is now going down. We have lost over three metres. This is an environmental disaster in waiting. Therefore, there is a need for us to use the excess capacity available everywhere, including the use of co-generation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must note that only a small percentage of our population has access to electricity. One of the reasons for this is that we do not have sufficient power to satisfy our needs. Therefore, let us resolve to support co-generation, so that we can also make sure that power in Kenya is not as expensive as it is. We know there are other energy sources. For example, energy is produced from fossil fuels, for example, by the independent power producers (IPPs). The cost of energy in Kenya for both domestic and industrial use is too expensive. This is mainly because we are using these IPPs, whose ownership is questionable and whose methods of production lead to what is called \"fuel-cost adjustments\" or \"foreign exchange adjustments\" which is increasing the cost of power. This makes the cost of electricity very August 29, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3551 expensive. In fact, I would say it is exorbitant! Because of that, our people are suffering, and even our large scale consumers like industries are suffering. This also discourages investment. We know of companies which prefer to go to invest in South Africa rather than in Kenya, or, perhaps, in Uganda, because the cost of power there is much cheaper than in Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, energy is a very important factor in the cost of production. If it is too high, it means that, in fact, we are going to discourage investors from coming. Therefore, we should not even be talking of creating 500,000 jobs a year. That is because we will never do that, if we do not have investments. Investments rely on cheap ways and means of production. The case of China is evident. A lot of factories have relocated to China because of the cheap labour there. They have a big population. Goods from China are now stocking the world, including the United States of America (USA). If you go anywhere in the USA, you are not likely to buy clothes made in America. You would find clothes made in China, the Dominican Republic, Korea and so on. That is because of cheap labour. Why can Kenya not wake up to that fact? That, we need to make sure that the cost of production of goods and services in this country is cheaper. That way, we can also compete with the world market, so that we can take advantage of things such as African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and so on. That way, we can export our goods cheaply. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say that, in fact, there is a need for us, as a country, to take advantage of the capacity that is available here now, so that we can help our economy to grow. We can expand our economy to the extent that we can employ more people. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}