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"speaker_name": "Mr. Murungi",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Energy",
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me, first 3160 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 14, 2007 and foremost, sincerely thank all the hon. Members for their support of my Ministry's budget. I would like, especially to thank those hon. Members who have called for an increase of our budgetary allocation and funding. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the very useful suggestions that have been made by various hon. Members during their contributions to this debate will be taken seriously by the Ministry. We are going to incorporate them in the future planning of the events of this Ministry, and also in our programmes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would now like to respond to a few of the specific concerns that have been raised by the hon. Members. First, there has been some common concern about the delay in implementation of the Government of Kenya-funded projects under the Rural Electrification Programme (REP). This concern is real. It is true that many projects under the REP, which are fully-funded by this Ministry across the country, have now stalled. This is due to shortage of some critical materials on the part of the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), without which the contractors cannot move. My Ministry is holding high-level consultation meetings. Even tomorrow, we are meeting with the KPLC to address this issue. I believe that very soon we shall bring the situation under control, and work all over the country will start again soon. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of expatriates at the KPLC, all I can say for now is that I have listened and heard the sentiments of the hon. Members on this issue. I think hon. Ojode was very forceful. I am going to monitor their performance and appropriate action will be taken when/and if necessary. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, regarding the payment of the 10 per cent deposits to the KPLC, which has been raised by quite a number of hon. Members, I would like the hon. Members to know that the old programme of rural electrification, where self-help groups used to pay 10 per cent and expect their projects to be funded to the tune of 90 per cent by the Government is no longer available. What this Government is doing is to connect electricity to public institutions, including schools, health centres, administrative offices, boreholes et cetera . For that reason, we do not require any group. Those who have paid the 10 per cent deposit to the KPLC should be advised to contact the KPLC managers at the district level, so that they can be advised on the modalities of being connected through the Umeme Pamoja Programme. With regard to the legal status of the KPLC, it is true that the Government now owns less than 50 per cent of the shares at the KPLC. To be precise, it owns only 48 per cent. But we have received a legal opinion from the Office of the Attorney-General, which has advised that the KPLC remains a State corporation, governed by the State Corporations Act. The Attorney-General has said this because the Government has invested enormous resources in the KPLC, which include holding preference shares in excess of Kshs16 billion in that company. So, we have sufficient stake in this company to make it a legitimate State corporation under the State Corporations Act. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, regarding the high costs of customer connection, it is true that the KPLC and Government are aware that many of our people are having problems in raising the Kshs35,000 that is required as connection fees. But we are working with the KPLC to introduce and fund payment schemes; where after payment of part of this money, a customer can be connected and then he or she will pay the rest together with their monthly electricity bills. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, regarding the issue of power generation which has been raised by a former Minister for Energy, hon. Raila, I agree with him that, indeed, this is a very serious issue. Right now, the margin between installed capacity and the requirements to our peak demand is laser thin. We are taking this issue of generation very seriously. Tomorrow, I am having a joint meeting between the KPLC and KenGen boards to address this issue. We are doing everything possible to make sure that this country does not return to the old days of power rationing. August 14, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3161 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, regarding oil and gas exploration, many of the hon. Members were asking: \"If oil and gas have been found in Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan, why not Kenya?\" It is true that Kenya, like her neighbouring countries, has a very encouraging geology. There is potential for discovery of commercial hydro-carbon oil and natural gas deposits in our sedimentary basins of Lamu, Mandera, Faza and tertiary Rift. We believe that within these 400,000 square kilometres, there must be some oil or gas somewhere. I think the problem that we have is that Kenya's oil and gas reserves have not been sufficiently explored. So far, we have only drilled 31 wells in this country, and these are not enough. We are told that before oil was discovered in Nigeria, they had drilled 71 dry wells. Ours are only 31. I think in Egypt they had drilled over 90 wells. Very little exploration activities have been taking place in this country, especially in the last 15 years. But all this has now changed, and my Ministry has embarked on a very aggressive acreage promotion campaign. Kenya has now started attracting multinational oil companies, and we are in the process of allocating them various blocks in this country."
}