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"id": 210091,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Chepkitony",
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"legal_name": "Lucas Kipkosgei Chepkitony",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support this very important Vote of the Ministry of Energy. Energy is a very important component of development in any country. Without energy, modern economy is not sustainable. So, it is very important that Kenya puts a lot of emphasis on the development of energy, which is cheap, affordable and can sustain the economy and the competitiveness of Kenya. In this regard, I would like to say that our country is still producing expensive energy compared to other countries such as South Africa, Egypt and India. We should try to see how we can develop cheap electricity, so that our manufacturing sector can benefit from the low cost. That will also allow our industries to expand because the cost of energy will be affordable or cheap. It will be a huge incentive for those industries to expand. It will encourage new investors to come to the country. It will make everything cheap in this country and favour many sectors. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, using petroleum to generate power is very expensive. Already, the cost of petroleum is very high. If we are using petroleum, whose cost is already high, to generate electric energy, the cost is bound to be expensive. Therefore, we need to explore cheaper sources of energy such as geothermal and hydro-electric. Although hydro-electric power is expensive in the 3086 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 8, 2007 initial development but, in the long-run, it is cheap and affordable. It is also a clean way of producing electricity. It is pleasing to note that the Government continues to support the development of geothermal energy. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to develop more hydro power stations using existing rivers. There is one river called River Aror in Marakwet District. It is a permanent river with plenty of water. It flows from a very well protected forest area, which is not prone to drought. I do not see why the Ministry has not generated power from that river. There is a very huge waterfall on the Kerio Valley Escarpment. That should be evaluated for possible development of a power station. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to comment on the Rural Electrification Programme (REP). That programme has been going on very well. I must commend the Government for that effort. It has extended power to areas which were not thought of some years ago. That is something good. I would like to request the Government to continue expanding that programme, particularly to more remote areas, which have potential for development. We have areas in constituencies like Kerio Valley and game reserves which cannot be developed because there is no power. But I hope that the programme will be extended to all those areas. We also have the Turkwel Gorge Dam power line that comes all the way from Lessos. That line is untapped in between. We should be able to tap that line, instead of developing another power line, which is very expensive. We should step-down power for people along the line. It will be cheaper. We should not say that people should get power from a central point, where it is re- distributed. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, other ways should be explored. In West Pokot District, for example, there is a lot of limestone in some of the mountains there. That limestone could be used for manufacturing of cement. But because power has been very expensive, investors cannot go there. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, another source of power that we, as a country, could explore, is nuclear power. That technology may not be attainable at the moment, but it is available in the developed world. It is a preserve of the most developed countries. They do not want to extend it to the developing countries. But we should be thinking of that alternative in future. I am sure the Ministry has a research unit, which should explore all those sources of energy. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, another source of power is what Mumias Sugar Company (MSC) has come up with. It has generated power from bagasse, which is a by-product of sugar manufacturing. We should encourage other sugar companies to generate power using bagasse. At the moment, bagasse is going to waste. It is not being used. The best way would be to reduce the cost of production of sugar by diversifying and making the companies to also sell power at a cheaper cost. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the moment, the cost of petrol and diesel in this country is high. That is mainly because of the high crude oil prices. But, locally, we can bring that cost down by changing the mode of transport and waiving taxes. But the issue of taxes is different. But there is also the issue of Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) being unable to distribute petroleum to the whole country. KPC is making huge profits amounting to billions of shillings, but they were unable to plan an expansion programme to accommodate the pumping of all the oil that is required in the country and for export. That must have been a serious oversight by the Ministry and KPC. They were unable to foresee the expansion of the pipeline. Recently, many people in western Kenya suffered because there was no fuel. That affected the economy. Those people had to come hunting for fuel all the way in Nairobi and transport it by tankers. Transportation of oil by tankers was not allowed then. But it is good that tankers have now been authorised to transport petroleum from Mombasa to western Kenya and even to Uganda. That was an oversight and action should be taken immediately to expand the pipeline. That way, the pipeline could continue to be the main mode of transport for petroleum products. The use of fuel August 8, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3087 tankers will make our roads unsafe. That should be discouraged. In future, we should stop using those tankers and confine ourselves to the pipeline. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to talk about charcoal and wood fuel. Charcoal is a major source of energy in most rural areas and even in the cities. People use it to cook. But that product is banned. People are not allowed to transport or make charcoal. They are barred by existing laws. But charcoal is still being sold everywhere. We need to legalise it and allow our people to make charcoal where possible. We need to use it just the same way we have allowed wood fuel to be used in homes. Where we find that people could make charcoal, let us allow them. That way, people could make it and sell it legally. That will stop the people from making charcoal illegally and eventually bribing the police and thus promoting corruption. After bribing the police, those charcoal vendors are allowed to transport the charcoal to the markets. That is something that the Ministry should look into and legalise. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, oil exploration has been very encouraging. When the Minister was moving the Motion, he said that results of Block L5 were very discouraging----"
}