GET /api/v0.1/hansard/entries/49479/?format=api
HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 49479,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/49479/?format=api",
"text_counter": 393,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Murungi",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Energy",
"speaker": {
"id": 93,
"legal_name": "Kiraitu Murungi",
"slug": "kiraitu-murungi"
},
"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, regarding Mr. Konchelaâs issue, we are required by the Constitution to look at the possibilities in the county governments for energy distribution systems. We will be working with the county governments, when they are established, to see whether we can put up a storage facility in every county. That will cushion us even better instead of having a centralized storage facility in Nairobi. I want to appreciate the former Minister for Finance, Mr. Okemo who was also the Minister for Energy. In fact, he should have resolved these problems that he is asking me to resolve. It is true that the place to go is the Cabinet. We have been there. We have talked about increasing efficiency of the refinery; modernizing the refinery at a cost of Kshs100 billion. We were asked to look for partners to do it. ESA is there; but immediately we brought ESA on board, oil was discovered in Uganda. As we are enhancing and expanding the refinery, so that we supply Kenya, Uganda and beyond with oil from Uganda, we have to remember that President Museveni has said not a single drop of Ugandan oil will leave that country unrefined. So, we are looking at a future where, instead of relying on imported products from abroad, we will be getting them from the region. The issue now which has arisen is that; should ESA invest Kshs100 billion in expanding a refinery or put up another refinery in Uganda because there will be no market for this refinery? So, we have been taken back to the drawing board to see whether we should reconfigure the entire petroleum infrastructure in East Africa in view of the 1 billion barrels of oil which have been discovered in Uganda. So, the systems might now be moving to Uganda instead of Mombasa. These are not litmus tests of hop, skip and jump solutions, because a different situation is also unfolding. Mr. Ruteere wanted to know; if an importer fails, what do we do? There are OTS rules. There are penalties. We have received up to Kshs100 million penalties from people who failed to honor the OTS. Even if you get the penalty, it does not give you the products. So, we have to go back and do what we are doing to import other emergency cargoes to fill in the gap. Thank you, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker."
}