Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 822689,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/822689/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 240,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The questions that were raised by the public about KPC, the first place of complaint, should not have been KPC. Since, complaint being made now is that KPC is not doing certain things and then Kenyans are going to KPC to complain which has transparency issues. However, with the regulatory agency, it will have all the information about KPC to hold them to account, suo moto or by instigation or any member of the public. Then where there is a dispute about all these issues, you go to the tribunal. That one answers most of the concerns that most Members raised when making their contributions. Thirdly, Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. raised the question of funding counties to do energy reticulation and regulation, which is their function. If every time we are discussing energy, we ask for money, tomorrow, we will discuss and decide to allocate money for the Environmental Bill for the counties. Once money allocated under the division of revenue is sent to counties, they budget their money on the functions they are supposed to implement. The national Government budgets on policy, for example, agriculture. On the other hand, the county governments budget on the delivery of agriculture. The unique thing about energy is energy reticulation which is a function of both levels of governments. The national Government has an extra function of dealing with the question of energy policy and regulation. However, the county government has the power to generate and reticulate energy if they have the capacity the same way the national government is doing. The private sector can do so, that is why in my presentation I talked about individuals. It will be unconstitutional to start saying that for every function of county government we debate here, we create a different fund to go to that county. This is why last time when I was discussing The Kenya Roads Bill 2015, I insisted that we have to look at the roads levy. I said that roads levy money should be presented as it is. Is it conditional or unconditional grant for a particular responsibility? Otherwise, it might be misused by counties because they already have a basket for that under the Divisional of Revenue Bill. If we want to fund counties to do well in the energy sector, our responsibility will be to increase the money in the Division of Revenue Bill so that they can invest in energy. The easiest way to invest in energy would be to first invest in the private sector and then the public sector can regulate. Madam Temporary Speaker, unfortunately, the Committee took a long time. However, it is not just this Committee. The Committee on Lands, Environment and Natural Resources also delayed the Physical Planning Bill. This is a practice that is becoming a great concern to me. Therefore, the Senate Minority Leader and I will consult on this. We will be happy to meet with the secretariat plus the Chairs and vice Chairs of the committees. We have raised these issues of performance of our committees in the Senate Business Committee (SBC). We must be honest to ourselves. I cannot chastise them and say much because of the responsibility of leadership and because most chairpersons and vice chairpersons are on this side. So, I must be careful because I survive by the support of the people who sit on this side. However, we must be honest to ourselves. We have not performed to the standards required of us as Committees, in terms of interrogating these Bills, bringing The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}