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{
    "id": 424114,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/424114/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 178,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murungi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 93,
        "legal_name": "Kiraitu Murungi",
        "slug": "kiraitu-murungi"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Motion and the Report. I am a Member of the Committee and I want to commend our able Chairman, Sen. Moi, and his able Deputy Chairman, Sen. Mwakulegwa. Indeed, as Sen. Wetangula has pointed out, this is a very hard working Committee and there is a lot of comradeship within the Committee. We are very supportive of the agenda of this Committee. I am privileged to have served as the Minister for Energy for seven years and I am happy to report that during my tenure as the Minister for Energy, we were able to bring some changes in the energy sector including creating the Geothermal Development Company (GDC). This was not the only change we brought. We also created the Rural Electrification Authority (REA), which has been able to take electricity to very remote areas of this country. It is also during our time that we discovered coal in Kitui, It is also during our time that oil was discovered in Turkana and Maya in the Indian Ocean. Although we are not there to complete the process, at least, we were there at the beginning. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, they say Africa is a dark continent. When it comes to the coverage of electricity we are a dark continent in the sense that only about 29 per cent of Kenya is covered with modern energy services. About 70 per cent of Kenyans are still using firewood, cow dung and crop waste as primary sources of energy. Even in areas where we have electricity coverage, Kenyans are only using electricity for lighting especially in the rural areas. When it comes to cooking, we come back to firewood and crop waste which causes damage to the environment. I think it will be good for us to keep promoting consumption of electricity especially for cooking in the rural areas so that demand for electricity is huge. We have only scratched the surface. Therefore, there is need for us to expand our generating capacity. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Kenya like other African countries has been suffering from chronic shortage of power. We are simply not generating enough electricity and I would say that we are that hungry person that we were talking about the other day, who does not mind what food you bring, if you give him githeri, ugali or nyama, he will eat. Even there is someone who has opened a butchery for donkey meat in Naivasha. For us, we are energy hungry and we are energy poor. So, we need energy from all sources that can we nurture in this country. 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."
}