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{
    "id": 406557,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/406557/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 94,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "participated in formulating the recommendations that are set herein. I am in full support of the recommendations. Let me; first of all, say that it is a good thing that the Committees of this House have given priority to county visits, not just the Committee of Energy, Roads and Transportation but all Committees. Recently, we debated a Report by the Committee on Education, Information and Technology. All Committees seem to be doing the right thing by moving to the countryside to look into issues that affect our communities. I think this is a good thing. Going to the geothermal investment that has been in the county of Nakuru and specifically Naivasha, I think we have not exploited the full potential of generating electricity. You know that one of the biggest impediments of industrial development in this country is the cost of electricity. The cost of electricity in Kenya today is one of the highest in the world. That is why we cannot compete with other countries when it comes to industrialised goods. All this is because the production of our goods is very expensive as opposed to our competitors particularly in Egypt where the price of electricity is very low. Here, households cannot afford the cost of electricity. The efforts that the Government is putting in developing rural electrification have not helped. Unless we reduce the cost of electricity, we will be wasting time. I say that because a lot of the rural folk and even the Government put a lot of effort in spreading electricity. However, in the rural areas, a majority of people cannot access the commodity because it is very expensive. That is why I laud the geothermal because this is God given steam. We just need to invest in drilling it, removing it and it will generate electricity. We do not appear to have done much in the past. The Government seems to be moving in the new direction because we have new dams being dug in Menengai. This will enhance the production of cheap electricity for our people. Recently, we had a problem in Naivasha. The communities there complained and said that they were being harassed by KenGen. It took the intervention of the President to go and cool down the flares that were in Naivasha. This is the area that we are talking about. Corporate social responsibilities and looking at the issues affecting communities is of paramount importance. We cannot develop electricity in areas that are settled by people when people are not in agreement with the policies. It does not make any sense to move to an area, start drilling wells to generate electricity and to ignore the needs of the communities. That is why, first of all, resettlement of communities that are affected in areas we will drill electricity is of paramount importance. Corporate social responsibility with regard to what the previous speaker has emphasized is very important. We do not want this country to be like others where minerals are exploited and the local people living around are left in poverty. Consideration must be given to the well being of the community before exploitation of anything, be it geothermal or coal. That will, in fact, be my next point. We were told by the management of KenGen that coal is a better option in getting cheap electricity. The Report says that the county I represent, according to the Government, envisages producing 60 megawatts of power from Mui Basin using the coal that will be mined. So far, mining of that coal has not been possible. We have not moved far although the Government is talking about 960 megawatts of electricity coming from the coal basin of Mui where during the last ten years, we have been talking about the same thing. I am emphasizing that before any mining of coal is done in Kitui County – KenGen has indicated that it will do this – the needs of the people should be addressed. We do not want to go the Kwale way where the locals were simply moved out and given some little money. They got The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}