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    "id": 424120,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/424120/?format=api",
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    "content": ". The President of Gambia is asking why Charles Taylor had to appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was largely not because of the crimes against humanity but because he refused to give away the oil resources in Liberia at a throw away price. As Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale said, Africa is the richest continent in natural resources. Indeed one country, DRC, is richer than any other African country as far these resources are concerned but it is also among the poorest countries in Africa. So, it is a paradox that this richest country is also the poorest in the world. I think it is simplistic for us to keep on talking about slogans like the “oil curse”. Some people actually believe that it is that liquid called oil which is cursed whereas oil is a commodity just like coffee or maize. It is not a cursed commodity. Personally, I believe it is a blessing. Economies in the Middle East are now vibrant because of oil. So, you can see how much it can do to this country. There is nothing like the “oil curse”. What we have is “Africa’s political and management curse”. We are the ones who are unable to manage our resources. I know the GDC is trying very hard to do corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is providing water to the communities, planting trees around Rift Valley where it is operating and others. These are very commendable projects. In my very sincere opinion the CSR projects cannot transform any country, they cannot bring sufficient roads and pull the people of these counties out of poverty. I do not want to use the word used by the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), they call it tokenism. I believe that you have to go beyond CSR. In fact, what we get from geothermal is steam. The fuel is steam and there is a model where the GDC is going to partner with private companies to produce steam and sell it. They are going to sell to other companies which are going to convert it into power. So, there is money today from steam. The question is, if you sell the steam, how much is going to go to the residents of Baringo? How much of those proceeds are going to Turkana? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am happy this matter is being discussed by the Ministry. There is a proposal that of the resources in the country, 75 per cent goes to the national government, which is the primary owner of the resources and 20 per cent goes to the county government and 5 per cent goes to the local community which is displaced in the process of exploiting that resource. It is the cooperation of the multinationals, the national government, the county government and the local community that is going to unlock the resources of this country and also remove our people from poverty. So, the local content issue has not been addressed as far as geothermal is concerned and I think time has come for us to address it. 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."
}