Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 788397,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/788397/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 199,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Moi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2689,
        "legal_name": "Kipruto Moi",
        "slug": "kipruto-moi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for the opportunity to contribute to the Energy Bill. This Bill seeks to consolidate laws relating to energy and align them with the 2010 Constitution of Kenya. It seeks to do this with clarity by seeking to define the roles of the national Government and the roles of county governments. The Bill also proposes to repeal the energy Act of 2006 and the Act of 1982. In Kenya, we rely on three sources of energy as I heard the Member saying. About 68 per cent of energy in this country comes from biomass, 21 per cent is from petroleum and a further 9 per cent is from electricity. The challenge for Kenya is how to achieve sustainable energy use through the gradual increase of renewable energy and decreasing use of finite resources such as oil and coal, which are mainly considered in the West as dirty energy. We should not be going that way. We should be emphasising the need to go green in terms of energy. Kenya in the past had effected a number of policies to govern the energy sector by way of policies and creating institutions and by enacting legal frameworks from time to time. In 1997, there was the Electrical Power Act and in 2006, the Energy Act was effected. These legislations attempted to separate the functions of generating electricity, transmitting electricity and distributing power. This Bill consolidates all the laws relating to the energy sector and establishes the ERC. By passing this Bill, it will provide the much-needed regulatory framework to streamline the energy sector to spur socio- economic development in this country. However, for this Bill to be successful, there are several things that we or the Government needs to do. We need to invest a lot of money in research and innovation in new infrastructure. We need to increase capacity so that we can create efficiency in the adoption of clean energy. We also need to look at the cost of energy through price regulation. If we do not bring down the price of energy, it is pointless to produce it. Our people must be in a position to afford it. So, the cost of energy must be competitive and this will bring the cost of living down. This will also attract investors. For this Bill to become very effective, we also need to reduce Government ownership and control in the energy entities. We need to increase private sector participation thereby bringing about competition and efficiency. We also need to increase our cooperation with our regional neighbors such as Ethiopia and Sudan, to create bilateral and multilateral agreements to ensure mutual benefits for these nations. Ethiopia will soon be producing a lot of electricity. Kenya will soon will be producing oil and we can exchange these items for mutual benefit. We also need to involve local communities. I have heard this said and I am not the first one to have said this. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}