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{
    "id": 90691,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/90691/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 325,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ms. Karua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 166,
        "legal_name": "Martha Wangari Karua",
        "slug": "martha-karua"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Motion. I commend the Committee, especially for recommending that the Government transforms its shares to ordinary shares so that the true position of its ownership in KPLC Limited can be reflected as 75 per cent. The current arrangement where the Government is reflected as a 40-per cent shareholder is totally incorrect and is convoluted and meant to give other shareholders who are not the majority shareholders, power of decision making in this vital company. Power is a vital resource and there is no reason the Government’s shareholding is not truly reflected. In the current situation, it means that the majority of the Board members come from the private sector. That is why it is not listed as a parastatal. We would urge that we pass this Report and the recommendations be implemented immediately so that the true position can be reflected. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, looking at the Report before the House where they tabulate the dividends given to the various shareholders, if you look at the dividends declared up to 2009, it is clear that the Government was the largest beneficiary. It got Kshs1 billion while all the other beneficiaries put together had under Kshs500 million. Therefore, if indeed this is the situation, it beats common sense why the Government would be reflected as owning 40 per cent and, therefore, ceding control of this vital company. I also want to talk about the IPP. The true reason that the cost of power is so high in this country is the fact that the arrangement with the IPPs is done without proper care and the interest of a majority of Kenyans being taken into account. That is the reason we are paying more for power. When there was a directive that the price of power be reduced, only a token reduction was effected for the ordinary consumers. It is the industrial and big companies that got real reduction. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Members of the Committee should not be asking about the agreements being laid bare to the public. The Committee, on behalf of this House, must make it its business to scrutinize this agreement. I am happy that we have two days to go to the inauguration of the new Constitution. Section 35 gives each Kenyan a right of access to information. We need to lay these agreements bare. As a House and therefore the Committee, we also need to check what is happening in other countries and the going market rates. I am sure by doing this, we will discover that Kenyans are being ripped off and that is why we are paying more for production of power than we should pay. If you look at the names of the companies, they were the same companies which were contracted before 2002. Their contracts are being renewed with the same prices. I think it is careless of the Ministry concerned and the Government to allow badly negotiated contacts to affect the lives of Kenyans. Although there is a lot of good happening in the power sector; they have been able to connect a number of Kenyans in a very short period, which we must commend. We must also commend the decentralization but there are serious governance issues in this sector. If everything was okay, we would not be paying as much as we are paying for power. We want to see an era where prime positions in the various power companies are advertised and there is competitiveness so that we can get value for money. Finally, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has totally failed in its duty of keeping in check the prices of power. The regulator should have looked at the factors that are causing power prices to escalate. They should by now have discovered that they need to renegotiate the contracts with the IPPs. Also, they should advice the Government on acceleration of other energy sources so that we stop relying on private people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for all essential services like power, water and communications, there is no reason the Government would cede controlling shares in any of such enterprises to business people. The progress and development of this nation relies on essential services like energy. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}