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{
    "id": 595373,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/595373/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 375,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Mahamud",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 373,
        "legal_name": "Mohammed Maalim Mahamud",
        "slug": "mohammed-mahamud"
    },
    "content": "Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to deal with petroleum exploration. It is very encouraging that we are setting up a proper framework to guide petroleum exploration. The Bill covers a lot of parts of this country. It is very important that we enact this Bill so that it properly takes the interests of this country as a whole. Petroleum exploration is the mandate of the national Government. Sometimes we get bogged down, or more concerned, with how we are going to benefit as communities rather than talking about what can benefit this country. If we have proper laws in place, the interests of this nation will be safeguarded. The petroleum companies that explore oil spend a lot of money in exploration. Once oil is discovered, the production agreement must be fair to both the nation and the explorers. We must equitably share the revenue that is realised between the national Government, the county governments and the sub-counties of this country. The Bill proposes to put in place a framework with an advisory committee, which exists today as an ad hoc committee. However, I am wondering why we have the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) as part of that committee when it is one of the companies which are supposed to explore oil. Oil exploration must be done by NOCK and various contractors that are going to be concessioned by the nation. Whether it is prudent to have NOCK in the committee is something which this House needs to look at, and be able to amend the relevant provisions during the Committee of the whole House stage. The Bill proposes to establish an Authority, which is very timely. However, the Authority must be given powers to negotiate on behalf of the Ministry. A lot of negotiating power is left with the Cabinet Secretary (CS). Yes, the CS represents an institution and not an individual, but it is important to remove this power from the CS and leave the CS to sign documents. The negotiations must be left to the Authority, which has the capacity and necessary personnel to do that. This Bill also proposes to establish a Sovereign Wealth Fund. That is very timely. However, the management of the fund and how it will be established should be properly regulated. The Bill says regulations will be put in place. The Bill, for the first time, has also provided a model contract agreement in one of its schedules. The complaint we often have in this country is that the current agreements between concessionaires and the Government are very secretive. Nobody sees them apart from the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, who actually puts them in a safe. Now that we see a model agreement published here, it is important that it is subjected to scrutiny so to see whether it can protect the interests of everybody on board. Hon. Deputy Speaker, petroleum exploration can cause environmental degradation. I am happy that the Bill has actually taken into account issues of the environment. The National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) is part of the steering advisory committee on petroleum exploration. This is a very important Bill, which comes at a time when this country has real potential. We have discovered petroleum in Turkana. There is likelihood of discovering it in various other blocks. Today, this country has been divided into many blocks, and there are many companies on the ground now. Having this law in place will give confidence to the people in the sector. Even the companies that will be contracted will have confidence that there is a law which governs the sector and not something ad hoc, which is dependent on the whims of officials in the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum. So, the sooner we enact this law, the better. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}