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{
    "id": 629630,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/629630/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 408,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ababu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 108,
        "legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
        "slug": "ababu-namwamba"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I want to support this Bill. Before I do that, I would like to express my disappointment that this is one of those Bills whose significance would have ordinarily perhaps attracted a lot of interest, passion and excitement in the House given the critical nature of energy and the significance of having a law that provides this House with the opportunity to relook at this critical sector. This gives it a fresh impetus and start, as it were, now that the country is entering into a very exciting period with the prospects of production and marketing of oil, expansion of production of energy whether it is geothermal or other sources of energy, the very ambitious agenda of exploiting wind energy and solar power and making sure that we are self-sufficient in energy. I hope that before the debate on this Bill is concluded, one would witness a bit more enthusiasm. This is supposed to be a debating Chamber where we bring the collectivity of dreams, visions and aspirations of Kenyans to bear on legislation. Energy is critical for the takeoff of any economy. Anybody who has looked at the various economic blueprints this county has put in place including the Vision 2030 will appreciate what a huge disadvantage our economy has been at because of the challenges in the energy sector. Because of the high cost of energy and unreliability of electricity, our economy has not performed optimally. We have witnessed capital flight with a lot of investors relocating their investments from this economy to other economies whose energy production is more reliable and whose cost of energy is a lot more affordable. Many traditional firms that defined the economy of this country like Unilever, Eveready Battery Company and related investments have relocated out of this economy. It becomes difficult for our economy to compete with economies like South Africa, Egypt and our neighbour to the north, Ethiopia, because of a much lower unit cost of energy and the impact of that on production. Therefore, this is one sector where we have to do everything humanely possible to make sure we make energy in this country reliable, but also affordable and competitive, so that we can offer investors in this economy that competitive edge. But to do that, it means that we have to go an extra mile in doing smart investment both in human and physical capital. That is important in the production of energy."
}