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{
    "id": 840571,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/840571/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 434,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am in an unfamiliar territory. Normally after 5.00 p.m. we are used to having the panel of ladies on the Chair. I am so sorry. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, these punitive measures are not there to encourage transparency. There should be a lot of transparency in the oil sector. Then, there is this question of the petroleum fund. It is a good idea but you will find in certain cases, unless stringent provisions are put in place – this Clause says that the applicable law will be the Public Finance Management Act – you would find that in a place like Venezuela where there were sovereign or future funds to help future generations, these funds were invaded after the country found out that they were not doing very well after all or when the prices of oil came down. We need to do something to anchor this properly. I will come up with a suggestion to ensure that these funds are like the funds that we have seen established in Norway and some of the countries of Northern Europe where they have found offshore oil. They have very good provisions in so far as some of these funds are concerned. The problem is not even African. The Dutch also had what was called a Dutch disease when the oil was discovered in the North Sea. It gave them a lot of problems in terms of transparency and accountability. Generally, the idea about this law is good. I could have gone Clause by Clause but because of time, I cannot. We need to go through it properly because transparency in the oil industry is the only solution. Everybody who is talking about oil now, including the oil companies; Shell and others, have found out that the best answer is absolute and maximum transparency. That would ensure that the oil industry works for the betterment of the people. One of the reasons why the oil industry is very difficult to deal with in so far as sharing resources is concerned, is first, the oil industry does not engage unskilled labour like agriculture. In offshore oil, for example, you find a rig with 20 or 30 people. Once it has been built, operationally, very few people can operate an upstream oil well and other operations that go with it. Then, you will find that the money goes into very few hands, the oil sheiks. So, in Kenya, if you are not very careful, we will have a lot of oil but very little to show for it but many oil sheiks. In Nigeria, in some of the airports, you will find many private jets. There are many billionaires around who benefit from an industry like oil or commodities but that money does not find its way into the hands of the common people. In Kenya where we have so many curses, oil will just be another curse if we do not come up with a proper law. If we can play around with some things like maize and sugar, what about oil? If we cannot manage these two simple things which are commodities, oil is a more dangerous business unless you start it on the right note. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need a lot more transparency in the management of the sector. One of the ways that it can be done – I hope where operations are to be carried by the national Government, county governments must be involved. It should be a joint responsibility. They may come with a mechanism where they do not have as much weight but if in this Bill, upstream operations are totally almost in the hands of the 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."
}