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{
"id": 233712,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/233712/?format=api",
"text_counter": 261,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kiunjuri",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Energy",
"speaker": {
"id": 175,
"legal_name": "Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri",
"slug": "mwangi-kiunjuri"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there was also concern whether we have the capacity required for this country and, I believe, those who raised this issue knew that the reason why we are getting short of the capacity is because the economy is performing. To address this question, we already have the Jinja-Tororo-Lessos power interconnector, which will provide us with 333kv. We also have the Arusha-Kenya interconnector which will also provide us with another 220 kv. On the same line, we have a 600 kilometre line coming from Ethiopia to the border of Kenya, and we are also going to connect on our side 1,200 kilometres to enable us get an extra 400 kv. This line will be very important to us because it will open the whole of North Eastern Province and the upper eastern part of this country. This will also be in line with affirmative action. Also, to make sure that affirmative action takes place, we have already connected 24 secondary and primary boarding schools in North Eastern Province through solar energy. We already have 12 projects that are on- going. We have also tendered for 24 projects this month. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of our capacity to connect more people, I would like hon. Members to appreciate the good work this Government is doing. Those who are doubting that the economy is growing should come and take our statistics. For example, in 2003, this country was only spending 760 megawatts of power. But today, we are consuming 975 megawatts. That is a fact that we cannot deny. This is an achievement that you cannot invalidate, and it shows that the economy of this country is doing very well. We are also endangered because we already have 170,000 customers waiting to be connected. We have less than 15 per cent that we can use today. This means that after connecting the 170,000 customers, we must get to know where we shall get power from to supply them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the year 2003, the Government was only connecting less than 30,000 customers per year. But last year alone, we were able to connect 67,000 new customers. Half of this financial year, we have already connected 60,000 customers. We are approximating that by the end of June, next year, we shall meet our target of connecting 150,000 customers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, today, we have 150 constituencies being connected with power. In each of these constituencies, a contractor is already on site and work is going on. This was not happening in the past. These are the achievements that Kenyans should be looking for. I am challenging hon. Members to come to our offices to see the way we have distributed power to constituencies. We are covering almost every part of the country. There is no longer discrimination. The national interests should come first and not politics. Regarding the petroleum sector, it is the concern of all hon. Members that we fight the cartel-like operations of the multinationals. To do this, we need to strengthen the NOCK. I also appeal to independent African proprietors to team up with the NOCK in the open tender system. This will ensure that we have enough independent outlets in the country. You will find a multinational company selling petroleum at Kshs81 per litre in Nairobi, while it sells the same in Western Kenya at Kshs76 per litre. I wonder whether there were any factored costs of the petroleum reaching Western Kenya, to warrant that selling price. These are the issues that we, as a nation, should discuss together. We should put our differences apart for the benefit of the common"
}