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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I want to join my colleagues in congratulating the Minister, the Assistant Minister and the staff in the parastatals under the Ministry for the good job they are doing. There were times when it was very difficult to get any information from the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) Limited, even during power outages. It is now easier to get information on what they do on the Rural Electrification Programme (REP). It is also easier to know, at the Ministry level, what programmes they have on REP. Also, from the kind of answers we get in this House, it is quite clear that this Ministry is on top of things. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, it is regrettable that this Ministry is, comparatively, getting very little money. This is a very important Ministry in terms of driving the economy and the country into a modern State in the next 23 years. However, its Budgetary allocation this financial year is only Kshs19 billion. In terms of Budgetary allocation, this Ministry should, probably, be second to the Ministry of Education, if we are serious about industrialisation. I do not want to repeat the advantages of electricity in development. I just want to emphasise that it is important that the northern part of Kenya is not left out in the development of electrification, precisely because if you do not have power, you cannot have information technology leading to digital divide. Again, the problem with this country, for many years, is that when planning is done, it ends where the tarmac ends, at Rumuruti and Isiolo, where the power lines end; to the north. I am talking about northern Kenya because that is where you can also generate electricity from alternative sources of power. Marsabit Mountain alone can generate up to 300 megawatts of electricity through wind power. That fact has been known for a long time. Maybe, the Minister can tell us the constraints in utilising free natural resources like wind and solar energy, which are available in plenty in the neglected parts of northern Kenya. Maybe, there is something which we do not know. It was said that, for alternative sources of energy development, only Kshs20 million has been provided for. Perhaps, the Ministry is thinking of getting private sector players into that area. If that is the case, then we need information as to how private sector players can come in. I come from Samburu District, which has a massive amount of natural resources. For instance, 25 per cent of Kenya's forest cover is found in Samburu District. That means 25 per cent of the oxygen that we breath comes from my district. We also have mineral resources, which were exploited in the past, and which assisted in building Nairobi and other cities, and not Samburu District, due to lack of electric power and the technology to do those things right there. We also have massive deposits of iron. It is very difficult to exploit those natural resources without electricity. So, we want the Ministry to think in terms of equity in developing this country. We understand that there is a project to power schools using electricity generated from solar energy. Maybe, we need to be told what one needs to do to qualify for a project to power schools in his our areas sing solar energy, so that our students can maximise use of their time in learning. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to join my colleagues and say that more resources should be spent in oil exploration. I agree with the Deputy Speaker that there is no reason to believe that God was so unkind to us that He gave Sudan gas, Uganda petroleum and neighbouring Tanzania and Mozambique huge deposits of gas. We cannot be an island which is August 8, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3077 not endowed with resources. My second point is about the Rural Electrification Programme. While I congratulate the Ministry for that effort, I think it is important for the Ministry to engage local communities and their leaders in terms of provision of power. That is when they are at the stages of design, routing and so on. I have an experience where electrification has been done in a town in my constituency, leaving out security and other installations. I think that was just because of lack of communication. We also think that when the Ministry extends power to national installations such as the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DCA) radar, it should consider local communities. I think there are six major radar stations in Kenya that direct aircraft into Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. One such radar station is located 30 kilometres away from Maralal District headquarters. Yet, along the way, we see those power lines which come all the way from Nakuru.But whoever designed that installation did not recognise small towns and facilities along the way. Similarly, power has been brought all the way from Nakuru to power one of the transmitter stations of Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and other communication installations. But whoever designed that project totally ignored the communities living along the power lines. I think that is something that should be corrected. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to raise the issue of corporate social responsibility on the part of the Ministry and parastatals such KenGen, KPLC and others. The Ministry has a corporate social responsibility particularly to Kenyans who live around power catchment areas. I think we need to recognise the fact that, power is generated from free water that comes down from the skies. That water generates power which is sold to other people to make money. I think it is important to encourage conservation of environment around those dams and discourage cultivation. We should assist our communities to go for alternative sources of income other than agriculture. I believe that agriculture could be the enemy of environment in those areas. When I say \"corporate social responsibility\", I mean communities around Kerio Valley and Turkwell Gorge Dam. I am talking about provision of water facilities for cattle and also provision of medical facilities for people around those areas. They should also be the first ones to get power supply. So, the Mbeere people and other communities that live around those dams should get power. I think those parastatals should assist them with utilities such as schools and jobs. They should be friends of the communities. Otherwise, in the long-run, you may find that you do not have water to generate power to sell. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to talk about alternative sources of electric poles to protect the environment. We can import and use cement poles instead of trees. That way, our trees will not be affected. We can conduct afforestation in areas that are affected. My final point is with regard to the Kenya Pipeline Company. I hope that the pipeline that was constructed several years ago, from Mombasa to western Kenya is still intact. It should not have breakdowns or leakages that can be dangerous to the communities. I think the pipeline will continue to be very significant in protecting the Northern Corridor Road. With those few remarks, I beg to support this Vote."
}