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{
"id": 90696,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/90696/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kamama",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology",
"speaker": {
"id": 165,
"legal_name": "Asman Abongutum Kamama",
"slug": "asman-kamama"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, first and foremost, I wish to support this Motion, and also support what the hon. Members have said on the issue of high energy costs in this country. This is a big issue among the people in the rural villages and the industrialists in this country. You will agree with me that high energy cost is a disincentive to industrial development. For us to realize industrial development, we must reduce the cost of energy to the lowest level possible. You will find that most manufacturers will have standby generators in their factories, because the KPLC does not meet their requirements, apart from the fact that power is costly here. Supply is also not efficient. We have power outages all the time. We need cheap energy if we have to industrialize or to realize Vision 2030 goals. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for us to get to this objective, we must diversify our sources of energy, instead of just relying on hydro power. We have relied on hydro power since colonial times. This is the time for us to think outside the box and make decisions to actually encourage investors to invest in clean energy. For the same reason, I want to recommend that Kenya should go the geothermal way. We have a lot of potential. I agree with what Mr. Yinda said; that we need to diversify and encourage many companies, local and foreign, to invest in geothermal energy. We have a potential of over 4,000 megawatts of geothermal power. This potential is found along the Rift Valley fault line. We have potential in Suswa, Ol Karia and in Nakuru; that is, Menengai. We have some of it in my constituency; that is, in Baringo East. In fact, I have a good chunk of it. My constituency can give Kenya over 2,000 megawatts, over and above the current national grid requirement. So, we need to do this all the way to the south of Lake Turkana. We need to encourage many investors to participate in production of clean energy in this area. We are flabbergasted when we are told that even geothermal companies were not given enough money. We want, as a matter of urgency, the Treasury together with KENGEN and the other stakeholders, to ensure that geothermal companies are given sufficient funds to exploit this great potential. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also have very good potential in the area of wind power. I am happy that something is happening in Laisamis. There is a private company doing something in Laisamis. We should extend it to North Horr. In fact, North Horr has the highest potential of wind power. We need to open up those areas. Since the colonial times, those were the areas that were closed districts. For you wanted to come from that side to Nairobi or Isiolo, you had to have a special identification card. That is why up to now, most of the residents of those areas refer to this part of the country as Kenya and that of the country as the wilderness. Most probably, that is how it is. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to invest a lot in wind power. Let us look at Coast Province. The tides and waves from the ocean can also produce a lot of wind. So, we need to exploit that. In terms of solar energy, we all know that 78 percent of this country is ASAL. This tells us that there is a lot of potential in the solar power area. We need to exploit this; other countries have done it. The USA, the Sudan and many other countries have done it. The issue of having emergency generators has become a cash cow for the high and mighty in this country. So, we need to reduce this because even these same generators contribute a lot to the production of fossil fuel emissions which is not good for environment. I would want us to diversify for us to develop as a country and realize the Vision 2030."
}