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{
    "id": 49451,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/49451/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 365,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Murungi",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Energy",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 93,
        "legal_name": "Kiraitu Murungi",
        "slug": "kiraitu-murungi"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to thank the Members for the clarifications that they are seeking. We have the current stock which is going to last us for the month of May. We are importing the next lot on 15th May to take us into June. So, we import products once every month. The products that we have are sufficient to take this country for the rest of the month, if we bring in the emergency cargo, which I said there is a tender to bring it on Tuesday next week. Both hon. Muthama and hon. Ogindo seem to suggest that the Ministry is captured by some cartels in the oil industry. I want to confirm to the House that this Ministry is not a captive of any cartels and we are implementing our mandate as spelt out in the Energy Act. It is only the other day that the ARC cancelled an operation license of one of the top leading oil marketers in this country. So, we will continue serving Kenyans without any fear. We will continue serving Kenyans to make sure that the fundamental interests of this country are taken into account. This is the only sector in the entire economy where there is price regulation. We acted to protect the interests of Kenyans. If we were afraid of the cartels, we would not have introduced any price regulations. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, regarding the power failure at Kiambere, I want to confirm that, that has also been rectified. The dams on River Tana were constructed in 1970s and you cannot expect them to continue operating at full efficiency without breakdowns here and there. The turbines which had a problem in Kiambere have been replaced and now we are operating as normal. But I cannot promise that there will not be another breakdown in Masinga or another place because we are dealing with aged plants. We need to continue renovating and monitoring the plants to make sure that we do not have prolonged power failures affecting the refinery like they did in this particular case. With regard to hon. Njuguna’s issue on prices, I have had occasion to address this House on high petroleum prices before. I pointed out the factors; both external and internal and the manner in which we are addressing them. I would like to refer the Member to the HANSARD, so that we save the time of the House. Hon. Namwamba asked a very pointed question: Where is the problem and where does the buck stop? The greatest problem with the petroleum sub-sector is under-investment by the Government. This is the only sector where there is zero budget allocation. You can look at your last year’s Estimates where there was zero allocation for the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK), zero allocation for the KPC and zero allocation for the refinery. You cannot expect the petroleum infrastructure to run without money. In fact, we have been told to find creative ways of working with the private sector to ensure that we resolve this problem, but the private sector will only come in if they can see profits. They will not come in to help you. So, unless we address, in a comprehensive manner, the issue of chronic public under-investment in the petroleum sub-sector, these problems will keep on recurring. We need some money to set up strategic reserves, so that when there are any hiccups in the system, at least, we can survive for a few days. We need to invest in the jetty that I am talking about in the SBM, so that, at least, we can offload two ships at the same time. We need adequate storage even here in Nairobi. If we had stored products in Nairobi for three to four days, even if those tanks belonged to the private sector, then we could resolve this problem. So, what we need is money and investment. Otherwise, I know the members of the public and the Members of Parliament will continue saying that Kiraitu Murungi has not done this, Kiraitu Murungi has not done that, but until we invest, even if hon. Ababu Namwamba is the Minister, these problems are going to be there."
}