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"id": 233912,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/233912/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Eng. Nyamunga",
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"speaker": {
"id": 341,
"legal_name": "Eric Opon Nyamunga",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this very important Bill. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Minister for bringing this Bill that is supposed to give a legal framework for sound development and growth in the energy sector. Our country is growing industrially and we have a target of being a medium industrialised country by the year 2010. That, we cannot achieve if our energy sector is not sound and strong enough to support the industrial growth. On that note, I would like to talk about our electricity tariffs. Our tariffs are one of the highest in Africa. Electricity is a major component of cost in industrial production. We also know that we have common markets in Africa, like the COMESA. If our goods are to compete with goods from Egypt or South Africa, where tariffs are much lower than what we have here, then there is no way they can compete. So, how do we industrialise when the goods we manufacture are not competitive in price? That means that something has to be done to address the issue of electricity tariffs. Otherwise, we shall not be able to produce goods that we can sell even in this country. We have a free market economy and, therefore, goods from the rest of the world will come here and compete with goods which are produced locally. That means that our intention to be industrialised by the year 2020 or 2030 will not be realised because our products will not be competitive. One way of reducing our tariffs is by generating electricity cheaply. One of the cheap sources of energy is hydro. However, I am afraid that the rate at which we are destroying our forests, we might soon run out of hydro-electric energy. What was projected at Sondu Miriu, I am told is something we cannot sustain every month of the year. During the dry season, we might generate less power. Therefore, there needs to be consultation between the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to see what it takes to make sure that we do not deplete our forests, which are our water sources for rivers. We must make sure that we practise reafforestation so that our rivers, which we use to generate electricity, have water all the time. One area which could also help us bring down our tariffs is to create competition so that we have many market forces in generation. We do not need to have KenGen only. We could have other players too. We could also have other players in distribution. In transmission, we can keep one player. We need to have different players so that consumers have a choice of where to get energy from. We know that there is an intention of having the East African countries; Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi integrated politically. But even before that takes place, we could integrate, as far as energy is concerned so that various consumers; whether they are in Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania, can have the various power producers competing. That would create regional competition as far as distributors are concerned, so that market forces can make suppliers of energy reduce their tariffs. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am happy and impressed that the Minister realised that it would be very difficult to extend the network to the remote parts of Kenya, like the North Eastern Province. Therefore, to implement the REP, there is an intention to intensify investment in solar and wind production of energy or electricity. That is good and a welcome idea. The Minister has our support in that area. I have a feeling that we shall not realise the full benefit of the REP as a country, if our mode of settlement in the rural areas is not changed. Various communities in this country have the tendency of having about four sons, who after they have grown up, marry and build their small houses all over. That means that we have scattered methods of settlement. It is really difficult to supply such people with electricity, in an economical way. In the developed countries, you have been there and seen that the mode of settlement is in a clustered way and, therefore, supply of electricity makes a lot of economic sense. However, in our mode of settlement, I am very sorry to say that whether we do wind power generation in North Eastern Province or REP in the densely populated parts of Kenya, it would be uneconomical. I wonder if there is something which the 3812 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 21, 2006 Minister of Lands can do to give incentives to Kenyans so that they can start settling in clusters. That would make the supply of electricity more economical. That would make it possible to supply electricity in very many homes in this country and increase people's living standards. However, the way we are settling, it will be increasingly difficult for the supply of electricity to be done. We might blame the Minister for Energy for high tariffs in the rural areas, however, I feel that the way our settlements are arranged, it would be very difficult for the Minister to satisfy Kenyans by giving them all electricity. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have reason to believe that the Ministry is not doing enough on the issue of new and renewable forms of energy. We have a large percentage of Kenyans who keep livestock. We know that we can produce cooking gas from animal waste, especially cow dung and human waste. There is a full-fledged department in the Ministry of Energy dealing with new and renewable energy. However, the impact of this source of energy is negligible. Maybe, if that source of energy was intensified, we could reduce the destruction of our forests. If people were to live in communal areas, we could have digesters, produce gas and then supply it for domestic cooking and save our forests. Right now, there is almost no effort being made to use human or animal waste to produce energy for cooking. I appeal to the Minister to see how he can put more effort and push the new and renewable energy programme, so that many Kenyans benefit from the knowledge that they have and, therefore, save our forests from destruction. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, under the REP, I must thank the Ministry for putting in place various programmes where construction work is being done by private companies. However, I am still not happy with the fact that the KPLC is the consultant and the contract or after putting up the network, the company is still the manager of the REP. That is unfair. The Ministry does not have the in-house capacity to even countercheck what the so-called contractor, consultant and manager is doing. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish the Minister would have in-house capacity to participate, at least, in consultancy, so that they design the networks in consultation with the KPLC, procure the installations in a competitive way, and then hand over to them to manage the networks at an agreed fee. Actually, the more reason we need more players in the distribution of electric energy so that they can compete. Right now, it is the figure that KPLC gives that customers are forced to take because we have no way of knowing whether the charges are excessive or not. The KPLC controls, from design, construction and management. I appeal to the Minister to make sure that he creates capacity within the Ministry, or create another body to participate in the design, procurement and the construction process, and then hand over to the KPLC to manage at an agreed fee. When we get various players to compete with the KPLC, we will be able to make a comparison; for example, Nyanza region is being charged so much and so on. This will ensure that we are not exploited by the KPLC. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, still on electricity tariffs, we need a cheaper source of generation of electricity. I feel very sad that we have not been able to encourage the sugar sector to give us electricity through co-generation, yet they have the capacity to do so. One would have expected the KPLC, for example, to go into partnership with sugar companies, so that they generate electricity, use a bit for themselves and sell or give to the network. However, we have a situation, sadly so, where, if anything, the sugar companies have been discouraged by being offered very low tariffs. We have been happy to buy at very high tariffs from the so-called Independent Power Producers (IPPs). I am appealing to the Ministry to look at that situation again. I am happy today I saw in the newspapers that Mumias Sugar Company (MSC) and Chemelil Sugar Company (CSC) will soon participate in co-generation of electricity. That should have been done at the very beginning when the MSC and CSC were set up. We should have at that time, encouraged and supported them to generate electricity, so that they sell it and, we, therefore, have lower tariffs. We have plenty of bio-gas which is wasted. It could have been used for generation of electricity. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is not my intention to talk November 21, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3813 more and with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}