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{
    "id": 399285,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/399285/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 399,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "43 Sen. Wangari",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise to support this report from the outset. I am also a Member of that distinguished Committee. As you realize, the Membership of that Committee includes majorly the former Ministers and Assistant Ministers. So, its institutional capacity or institutional memory is big. Madam Temporary Speaker, as you realize from this report, you will see that South Korea started exactly 50 years ago to be where they are today. We were at the same level – and I know that story has been said over and over again. It is a story that I want to think should teach Kenya lessons here and there because they made some of the right choices. Fifty years down the line, they are rated amongst the 10 largest economies in the world. This is definitely not by default, but it is by design. As we discuss this report, they already have 23 nuclear energy plants while four are under construction. This tells you that they took it very seriously and they not only provide these nuclear power plants for their country, but they are even exporting them to super powers like the USA, Europe and the Asian Continent. Madam Temporary Speaker, as we look at Vision 2030 – I know the Jubilee Government has been very keen on making sure that this will be a reality – we also must invest. There is no way we will achieve Vision 2030 without having reliable, affordable, consistent and accessible power. We are now struggling. The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum came up with the target of 5,000 megawatts. They said this can be achieved in the next few years. This is something that the President is very keen on. In fact, he is the one personally chairing that task force that is charged with that mandate of making sure that Kenya can achieve that target. We are talking about 5,000 megawatts yet South Korea is doing over 16,000 megawatts in one nuclear plant. I think we have a lot to learn from this. If we are able to sustain this supply and investors get this power - because investors would rather pay more – as business people - but be assured that the power will be there. He can, at least, rely on it. Today, you only get exorbitant bills, but you are not even assured that you will get the power that you pay for. We cannot talk of creating industries if we do not have reliable power supply in this country. Given that agriculture is a devolved function, some governors are already buying and installing processors and agro-based plants. However, this cannot be a success if we do not have reliable power. These 5,000 megawatts that we are talking about will be a combination of many things. For many years, we have been relying on hydro power, but we have seen it is not reliable and it has far reaching effects on the environment. It contributes to global warming because the water levels keep on fluctuating. We cannot really rely on hydropower generation. We have seen geothermal power generation. We, as a Committee, have visited many plants, especially in Olkaria and Baringo. We were told Baringo County has the potential of generating 3,000 megawatts. However, the cost of even doing this is crazy because you have to keep on drilling. When we went round, we found very intelligent young men and women who have been trained even outside this country, working in these ‘rigs’ as they are called. To drill one or to buy one is not less than US$2.5 million; the cost is exorbitant. Madam Temporary Speaker, we need to think big because we have tried the small things. Even the coal we are talking about in Kitui, it remains just that; a potential."
}