Hon. Senators, I would like to acknowledge the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery this afternoon of visiting members and staff from Machakos County Assembly Committee on Broadcasting and Library. I request each Member of the delegation to stand when called out, so that they may be acknowledged in the Senate tradition. 1. Hon. Conslas Kieti - Chairperson 2. Hon. Erice Musembi - Member 3. Hon. Paul Nyanzi - Member 4. Hon. Loisa Mamau - Member 5. Ms. Nora Muteti - Clerk Assistant 6. Ms. Emma Nthenya - Broadcasting Officer 7. Ms. Kathoki Mwendwa - Broadcasting Officer In our usual tradition of receiving and welcoming visitors to Parliament, I extend a warm welcome to them. On behalf of the Senate and my own behalf, I wish them a fruitful visit. I thank you.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table of the Senate today, Thursday, 9th August, 2018: The third status report of the Kenya Water Towers Agency (KWTA) 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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table of the Senate today, Thursday, 9th August, 2018: Report of the Committee on Energy on the public hearings on the Local Content Bill (Senate Bills No.10 of 2018).

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank you for the opportunity. Pursuant to Standing Order No.46(2)(a), I rise to make a Statement on an issue of general topical concern regarding the mismanagement of funds at the Kenya Power and the latest unexplained increased electricity tariffs; a cost passed to the final consumer. Electricity is one of the most important amenities in the world today. People from all walks of life; from industries to households, schools, hospitals, small businesses and Government institutions, all require electricity for optimum performance of their day to day activities. It is hard to picture an office without a computer or a household without a mobile phone. Just the other day, a good number of senior management staff of Kenya Power was arraigned in court to face charges of abuse of office and loss of public funds through knowingly purchasing defective electricity transformers. It is astonishing that the Kenya Power, with the best and most experienced electrical engineers in the country, could purchase such large quantities of defective transformers, but corruption and need for quick kickbacks in the tendering and procurement process explains it all. While the senior management enjoys the fruits of their corrupt activities, the cost of paying for the defective transformers is passed on and distributed among the final users of electricity across the country. I have always questioned the rationale of replacing all wooden electricity poles with concrete ones all over the country even when the wooden poles are still new and strong. It is a common occurrence for the major newspapers in the country to carry a paid advertisement schedule of power blackout every week. This is usually termed as routine maintenance during which time the utility firm mostly undertakes the replacement of wooden electricity poles with the concrete ones. In reality, the pole replacement exercise is a business scheme used to rip off electricity to consumers to benefit a few influential and rich individuals. The benefits of 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.

Hon. Members, before I allow contributions on that, I have a brief communication to make.

Hon. Senators, as you are aware, the Speaker’s Rules are made pursuant to the powers of the Speaker under Section 37 of the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act, 2017. The rules regulate the conduct of Senators and also govern the admission and conduct of the members of the public and other visitors to Parliament. Breach of the Speaker’s Rules usually results in the matter being referred to the Committee of Privileges for consideration and action. Hon. Senators, I wish to notify the House that an amendment has been made to the Speaker’s Rules regarding the mode of dressing by Senators while within the House. More specially, the rules now allow women Senators to dress in kitenge or such other African attire. This follows an appeal by the lady Senators to the Speaker to that effect. Copies of the said amended Speaker’s Rules will be circulated to you in due course. 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.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. In relation to your communication, I wonder why you are not considerate to the menfolk because you have made rulings that apply only to the ladies in this House. The men are tired of the jackets and ties. When you put on a tie, sometimes you feel like you are being strangled. Why can we not have rules that take into account the comfort of the men and the African culture so that Sen. Olekina can come in a shuka that reflects his Maasai heritage? Mr. Speaker, Sir, that ruling has left out a very significant population of this House. I beg that you also extend it to the benefit of the menfolk.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I welcome your ruling. I also hope that the previous rules that allowed a Maasai to come in here in full regalia are restored. If they are not, then I will be willing to also request that you amend your ruling.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker Sir. First of all, I want to congratulate you for the brilliant ruling of indigenising the Senate by ensuring that we recognise indigenous dressing and the way our beautiful women dress in this great Republic. That is welcome. In fact, as we move forward, certain attire that might be considered extremely western and secondly, replicating the behaviour of other people can slowly be banned by the Speaker, in the long run, so that it will be mandatory for our ladies to adorn the African wear. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when you retire to make a ruling on how the men will dress, take your time.

If you say that we can wear African attire there is a danger that a fully dressed Maasai like Sen. Olekina will come here with a rungu, sword and a spear. Considering the passionate contributions of people like Sen. Olekina, with a sword and a spear in his hands, we cannot guarantee the safety of the House. I can almost understand why you took time to decide on the men’s side. In the same breath, if Sen. (Dr.) Ali dresses fully as a Somali elder, there will be problems in this House. For the ladies, you made a very good consideration and for the men you will need further retreat, research and a well-documented ruling on that matter.

Let us have Sen. Wetangula.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, thank you for the opportunity. I want to speak to the Statement of the Senator for Vihiga. On the attire, I would encourage you to take a direction, that this is a legislative chamber not a parade of attire. We come here to legislate and not to show off our regalia, whether traditional, western, Chinese or whatever. We should focus on substance and not form. I want to make contribution to the Statement---.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. One of the responsibilities of a Senator is to represent his county. Dressing 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.

Sen. Wetangula, respond.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, when you see the distinguished Senator for Elgeyo Marakwet engaging in long winding rigmarole, devoid of substance---.

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Order, Sen. Wetangula! What is your point of order Sen. Murkomen?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, is Sen. Wetangula in order, even before you issue your ruling, to arrogate himself the powers of the Speaker and pretend to be a headmaster who can determine who speaks substance and who does not? Is that not your function that Sen. Wetangula is trying to abrogate himself?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, freedom of thought, expression and opinion which my distinguished learned junior has repeatedly pronounced on in this Chamber is available to everybody. What is substance to me may not be substance to him and vice versa. That is what opinions are all about. We are not here to engage in presenting uniform views, because then, it ceases to be a debating Chamber. I have no difficulty with you liberalising the dressing of our women folk; our distinguished female Senators, but like Sen. Murkomen said, think seriously and twice before you disturb the dressing mode of the men folk in this Chamber. Mr. Speaker, Sir allow me to proceed to the Statement of Sen. Khaniri.

There is a Senator who wanted to comment on the attire. I will allow Sen. Mwaura to make a comment, then invite you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I want to make my contribution on this issue of attire. Attire is very important and if you go to the various parliaments and chambers you will see that various countries have moved from the traditional aspect of allowing Members to only wear suits as the only uniform – if you like - of parliament. In the 11th Parliament when I appeared in the National Assembly, a Member rose to say that I was wearing a hat as if I am a cowboy. I love to wear African attire like the Nigerian agbada and the vitenges . It will be unfair to only allow the ladies to wear the African attire. This is actually gender discrimination because, we would also want to express ourselves. 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.

What is your point of order Sen. Wetangula?

Let us consult in low tones.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, is the distinguished Sen. Mwaura in order to misrepresent what I said; that the only way you can express yourself well is when you are in a suit? In my intervention – and the HANSARD will bear me out – at no time did I mention the word ‘suit’. In fact, I said that we should pay attention to substance and not form. I also said that continuing to belabour the issue of dressing is actually trivializing the heavy agenda that this House has, because we are not here for a fashion show or contest. No amount of dressing or change of dressing would add substance where there is none!

Continue, Sen. Mwaura.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The content or the form in which we dress is a clear representation of our cultures. It is, therefore, important to allow that diversity. There is strength in diversity and hon. Members should be allowed to dress decently, but in a manner that would encourage Kenyans to be proud of their own cultures. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are all aware that we have a national dress that was approved. However, the only time we see people wearing it is by our athletes or when we are out of the country. I have, for example, never seen any distinguished Member, including Sen. Wetangula, coming to this august House wearing a national dress. Therefore, we need to give that opportunity to hon. Members so that Kenyans can see that, indeed, we value our cultures. Doing so will also help us to promote our young designers, who have very creative ideas. When we travel and go out there, we buy designer suits and other things from other people and, by doing so, we promote other economies. Therefore, this will also encourage Kenyans to know that there is value in studying design and actually engaging in such kind of businesses. Therefore, I agree with the Majority Leader that the male Members of this august House should be allowed some leeway to also express and parade their cultures so that we show what Kenyans really value out there, because we are their true representatives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Hon. Members, we now go back to Statements. 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.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, Sen. Khaniri of Vihiga County made a very important Statement. I would have expected that Statement to come from the Chairperson of the Committee on Energy on behalf of the people of Kenya. Therefore, I congratulate him. Mr. Speaker, Sir, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda includes---

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The hon. Senator has said that he would have expected the sentiments of Sen. Khaniri to have come from the Chairperson of the Committee on Energy. The Senator is ignorant of what we have been doing, as a Committee, and what we are going to report to this House. This should not be a basis for him to come here and criticize our Committee through the Chairperson. As you are aware, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I intend to make comments and tell this House about the Energy Bill and the concerns he has raised.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am totally at a loss as to what the distinguished Senator for Nyeri is protesting about. In fact, we would have gotten off better if he did not.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was saying that---

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

What is your point of order, Sen. Murkomen?

Why do you not let me prosecute my point?

You will have your time. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with all due respect to your serious office, which we all respect here, there is a practice that I have unfortunately observed. All of us come here to raise points of order and there is no ruling from you on whether a Member was out of order or not. This leaves us completely at a loss, because we cannot tell; even the HANSARD cannot record what direction the Chair was on; whether it was a point of order or not. I request that you give direction in this area. You should either say that a Member was out of order or not, so that the record can bear you out rightfully. Similarly, Members can feel that their concerns are being considered rightfully or wrongfully for whatever reasons.

Okay; it is noted. Proceed, Sen. Wetangula. 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.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda includes industrialization and boosting manufacturing. We cannot industrialize or boost manufacturing if the cost of energy – which is a critical component and input – is prohibitive. In this country, electricity is extremely expensive. Even where it is available, the supply stability is extremely erratic. In the Western part of Kenya, we have permanent power surges, blackouts and dips to the extent that, as I speak here, I declare my interest as a victim. Last weekend, there was a terrible power surge in Bungoma and people lost millions of shillings worth of electronics in their households. It cost me Kshs150,000 to fix electrical appliances and other things in my own house. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Kenya Power (KP) had a distinction, up to the 1970s, of being the most efficient utility company in this country. In fact, all advertisements during those years used to weigh anything efficient as being as efficient as Kenya Power. They were everybody’s admiration until cartels moved into the management of the KP and started lining up their pockets at the expense of the public. Mr. Speaker, Sir, a month ago, the KP announced to the country that they were going to lower electricity tariffs, only for them to spring up three weeks later with an increment in the tariffs that consumers pay. Therefore, what Sen. Khaniri has said is very important. It is in the interest of this Government to achieve the legacy being sought by the President; of turning Kenya into a middle level economy with successful manufacturing and industrial take-off. To achieve this, we must then have affordable, stable and readily available electricity. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when the Jubilee Government first came to power, they said that they will increase the supply of electricity by 5,000 megawatts. I am interested to hear from the Majority Leader about how many megawatts they have increased to date, because our consumption is still just around 2,000 megawatts. Therefore, if they were to increase by 5,000 megawatts in 2013, and at that time our consumption rate was 1,580 megawatts, we would be talking about more than 6,000 megawatts today. However, we are still at 2,000 megawatts. How are we going to industrialize? We have just had phenomenal rains in the country. The dams are full and the spillways of the dams went and devastated the entire Tana River County. If the hydro supply is at its optimum, why are electricity charges going up? These are big questions. Lastly, my brother from Nyeri County has stood here to proclaim his efficiency. I would want the Committee on Energy to take up this matter and save Kenyans from the chaotic situation in which Kenya Power Company is run and in the manner it is fleecing and overcharging people. People are unable to benefit even from the last mile connectivity. There is no point connecting a village or a house with power that is never there or it is there but nobody can afford it. These are critical issues and they need to be addressed. The distinguished Senator for Nyeri County should climb down from his pedestal and address the issues that the Senator for Vihiga County has brought, which he claims he was about to bring. Obviously, he was about to bring them because it has been brought.

Chairman, Committee on Energy, Sen. (Eng.) Maina. 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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I will start with Sen. Khaniri’s sentiments. I would say that he has brought a subject that we are already tackling. I will enumerate the things that the Committee on Energy is doing to address those issues. As to my brother who has just finished speaking, I want to say that he is a lawyer and ignorance does not allow anybody to make unwarranted remarks and accusations. One is supposed to seek knowledge. Having said that, Kenyans are interested in knowing what will happen with regard to energy. My Committee has been concerned about the high cost of power and has held a couple of meetings. The Ministry of Energy has promised us that power charges will come down. However, looking at this country, I would wish to inform this House why issues sometimes have to be what they are. This country has had to rely on the engines for thermal power on periods when our dams are at a lower level. In the past, our power was based on hydro-electricity. As we have noticed, with the global warming, the rains have not been as perennial and reliable as they were before. Therefore, the country had to rely on actual diesel engines to try and close the gap, rather not having power. That has been an expensive venture and the Government has noted this. There is huge investment in geothermal energy and wind power. In addition, there is a programme on solar energy all over the country, where the Government gives power to people in the rural areas through a simple solar energy equipment. Secondly, we have had an unfortunate situation with the line from Lake Turkana, which is supposed to feed 300 kilovolts into the grid. There has been about a year’s delay, but we have been reliably informed that it should be commissioned by the end of this month. Therefore, there is need and the Government is aware that power costs must be brought down, and all measures are being taken. It has taken time, but let us not lose sight of the fact that a lot of energy and time was wasted in this country by some people demonstrating and wasting a lot of energy on the streets. Some of the people who speak here could have done much better by letting this country address issues. I am glad to say that after the handshake, issues are now being addressed by all sides and we should work towards that. However, let us not forget the people who are responsible. I do not want to name them because they are obviously known. They should not stand here to complain, when they know that they let this country waste a lot of energy and resources. They distracted the management of this country through unnecessarily demonstrations. Fortunately, we are now in a new chapter and we will all move together. My Committee will be meeting officials from the Ministry of Energy and Kenya Power in a week’s time and I will report to this House. They have undertaken that power costs have to come down. I am more concerned than some of the Members who have spoken because my heart is with the common people. I look forward to a time when Kenya can give free energy to the low consumers. The country should even provide free water to some of our unfortunate citizens. It is happening in countries like Egypt. However, this will take time to be achieved. Let us also fight corruption. Sen. Khaniri has brought up the issue of corruption and the usage of concrete electric poles. I support him on this. Kenya Power was known 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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise to support the Statement by Sen. Khaniri on this issue of---

Order, Senator. I would want to limit the time to three minutes for the remaining speakers, because we have a matter on energy after that.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the issue of electricity in this country is very worrisome. I sit in the Committee on Energy and it is shameful that when we invited the Ministry of Energy, the Acting Managing Director of Kenya Power Company, members of Rural Electrification Authority (REA) as well as the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to appear yesterday, so that they could address this particular issue on the escalating cost of energy, they failed to appear. We all know that Kenyans soon will start paying Value Added Tax (VAT) on petroleum products. There are serious challenges that surround the whole sector of electricity and we have not gotten solutions because of the high level of corruption. We are all alive to the fact that the previous management was sent away because of allegations of corruption. With regard to the electricity issue, I will recommend it to our Committee. We will take over this mater so that it can form a basis of some of the questions we will be asking these people when they appear before us. Mr. Speaker, Sir, what is happening to the entire sector of electricity? What is happening with the rural electrification programme? Kenya Power (KP) is not telling us what they are doing about it. We must also address the issue of environment. In 2008, Sondu Miriu power plant was supposed to be commissioned. However, it was not because the issues of environment had not been addressed. We, as a Senate, must address the issue of monopoly by KP in terms of power distribution. We need to come up with legislation to ensure that we open up this sector for competition. That way, we can bring in more people who can distribute power. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the KP is a public body where the Kenyan Government pumps in a lot of money to support it. However, we never ask how much of that money is ploughed back to the public. We will discuss this Statement and invite KP to shed more light. I hope we will be able to convince Treasury not to introduce a 16 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) which had been deferred on petroleum products because Kenyans are suffering.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise to support the Statement by Sen. Khaniri. One of the reasons why Jubilee Government was re-elected is because of 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.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also wish to add my voice to the Statement brought by Sen. Khaniri. The reason why you do not see a lot of fish processing plants around Lake Victoria is because of erratic electricity supplies. If you do a business case for establishment of fish processing or fish cooling facilities around Lake Victoria, electricity and energy becomes one of the biggest cost elements. This is an indication that our energy sector is in shambles. When the residents of Renda Island on Lake Victoria attempted to set up a solar power plant that was providing power to 10,000 residents on that island, the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) went and shut it down. They accused them of not complying with licensing requirements. That is the kind of insanity that guides the energy sector in this country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, a group of investors decided to tap wind power around Lake Turkana and put up a huge firm to capture wind power. You find that these private investors are not able to turn on their investments simply because the Ministry of Energy and the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO) have failed to lay grid lines to the site of the wind firm. Again, that is the kind of lunacy that we have in the energy sector. If you go to Lamu, a beautiful heritage site listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)---. We want to import coal from South Africa and fire it up in Lamu, so that we can generate energy without consideration to the heritage and the environment in the Lamu zone. That is the lunacy that Sen. Khaniri has brought before us. I conclude by saying that the cases of corruption that have been brought against the officers of KPLC should be expedited. We want to urge the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) not to be shaken. In this country, we have learnt that the greatest rumour mongers, blackmailers, and gossipers are the corrupt. Whenever you go after 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.

Proceed, Sen. Sakaja.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, allow me to thank Sen. Khaniri for this Statement. I urge the Committee that takes this up expands the area they are looking at. It is true as Sen. Cherargei has said that Kenyans were very happy with the last mile connectivity project of this Government. But we need to understand that access to electricity is not just having the metre. It is affording it. Mr. Speaker, Sir, affordability is a huge part of access to electricity. It is something that needs to be subsidized for Kenyans. We cannot be the highest in the region at Kshs15 per kilowatt hour while our neighbour Uganda are at Kshs12 and the rest as Sen. Khaniri enumerated. Two things come to mind. I would urge Sen. (Eng.) Maina’s Committee to look at, first, urban connections. Almost 10 per cent of this country lives in Nairobi. Of that 10 per cent, more than 50 per cent are in informal settlements. Because those in informal settlements cannot afford electricity, they resort to illegal connections that have been the cause of untold disaster in this city. We have a fire every few weeks. Many of these fires are caused by illegal power connections.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wish the Chairman would listen. I am told other Members are listening while the Senator is engaging, Sen. Mwaura. If this Committee can come up with a package for those in informal settlements and the slums to get clean energy to get the power properly, they will pay. They want to pay, but they cannot afford how it comes. Secondly, if there are people to be subsidized because the President said so---. We are glad that the President said it. That those in industrial area and big manufacturing companies will get 50 per cent subsidies off for manufacturing between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. to employ more people. There is a huge segment we are leaving out. Those are small entrepreneurs. Mr. Speaker, Sir, a lot of manufacturing that is happening in Nairobi is not in Industrial Area. If you look at those who recently lost their properties in Gikomba, they are some of the best furniture dealers operating heavy machinery. But they are not being subsidized. If you go to Kamukunji, Jua Kali and Nyamakima, there are some of these traders that also need to be subsidized in terms of the cost of power going to them. Because of time, I will leave it at that. I urge the Chairman to invite us, as he is dealing with this. There are many other aspects that we would like to contribute. 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.

Proceed, Sen. Orengo.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, once again, I commend Sen. Khaniri for bringing out this very important Statement. However, there is something we are missing out in this Statement which should be looked into with some concern. It is not seeking, as it were, to address wholly the question of power or power generation or supply in the country. I agree with Sen. Sakaja when he talks about affordability. To contextualise what Sen. Khaniri is saying in terms of what is going on in the country at the moment is that, those who are receiving these electricity supplies are being loaded with costs which cannot be explained. In fact, what has been going on in the Kenya Power is a criminal enterprise and it should be called what it is. This criminal enterprise did not start yesterday. I want to persuade Members that we are dealing with a very big problem. In fact, there are five sectors in this country that one should look at if you want to watch what is going on in terms of how we are running our country. One of them is what is topical and what we have been talking about, which is maize and what is happening in that sector. We then have sugar. Year in, year out, we are always talking about illegal importation of sugar or removal of taxes or waivers given to particular companies to bring in sugar. Fertiliser is another thing that we have had to deal with perpetually over the years; and then there is this issue of energy. Land is another question that we are supposed to debate in another Motion, but I think that its time is going to come. In the power sector, I want to remind Sen. (Eng.) Maina that the Government of yesterday and the years before tried to make sure that we regularise the power sector. This is because initially, power generation, distribution, retail and supply was being done by one organisation and it was thought that breaking it up would stop the criminal enterprise that was going on within the power sector. We had all these parastatals which were formed to deal with the various sectors from generation, distribution, supply and retail and that has not helped. Therefore, at the end of the day, I think that we have to find out what is happening every time. Sen. (Dr.) Ali has talked about the issue of change from wooden poles to concrete. It is part of this system that something in the power sector is always seized upon to make quick money. In order to contextualise this matter, we are going to relook at what the complaint is, in so far as the members of the public are concerned. More importantly, in order to address this issue holistically, we need to have an over-supply so as to bring down the cost of power to the ordinary people and that is what other countries have done. Ethiopia is working towards that, Uganda has literally an over- supply and that is why we are buying power from them. If you go to France, they have an over-supply to the extent that power can be accessed cheaply by the ordinary people. One of the problems that we are having in Kenya is that there is deficiency in power generation and, subsequently, we cannot have sufficient supply of power. In order to contextualise what is happening at the moment, I think that the criminal enterprise that is going on in the sector should be addressed quickly because the rest is like Vision 2030, 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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me a chance to add my voice to this very important Statement by Sen. Khaniri. The issue of the cost of power vs consumption in this country is something that we all need to look into . This will ensure that the mama mboga and the big investors produce economically and viably rather than having them invest in projects where they will be unable to get profit because of the energy cost. I sit in the Committee on Energy and I know that we have already summoned the Cabinet Secretary to appear before the Committee because of the high cost of power and the poor connection to our schools. We may assume that all public schools are connected as we talk, but they are not. That is just a picture that the Ministry has painted because many schools in our counties have electricity poles that are not connected. Therefore, we shall invite Members who are interested in this matter to come and give their views and ideas. There is also the issue of illegal connections that have caused fires in our urban areas. That is also an issue that we need to look into as a Committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to add my voice to this Statement. I want to start by thanking Sen. Khaniri for this Statement. It is a Statement that is relevant and valid at this point in time, in Kenya. The issue of electricity bills is of great concern and we need to see how we can help Kenyans as a Senate. Electricity bills are extremely high to the point that you will still find yourself paying a high bill even when you do not use electricity to pump water, bake or iron. One will still find exorbitant bills even when they decide not to be around their home and this happens even when one has been away for a month and has not used electricity much. There is need to investigate what is exactly happening at Kenya Power. Why are the bills so high? Sen. (Eng.) Maina has talked about rural accessibility of power energy and I want to tell the Senator that energy has not devolved to all Kenyans in this country. It is unfortunate that you will find idle transformers in some counties. The transformers are there but people have not been connected. Where I come from; Lumakanda, we have two transformers that are idle. I have tried to ask the people at Kenya Power to connect the people of Lumakanda for them to get electricity but this has not been done. I am one of the people without electricity.

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.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise to briefly support the Statement by saying that the cost of electricity in this country has gone very high. Indeed, the breakdown of the cost is not justifiable. I am sure that many hon. Members here have become victims of the monopoly of Kenya Power (KP). We are reeling under very high electricity costs; which means that you have no options. If you are given a bill, you just have to pay. Sometimes we even pay when we have not spent time in the facility that is being charged; that is what Kenyans are crying for. Madam Temporary Speaker, I commend this Statement, but it also says a lot about the issue of renewable energy and whether we need to diversify our energy sources if we are to remain competitive as a country. Most of the investors coming to this country find it very difficult meeting the energy needs. When you even look at the way the national grid is distributed, you will find huge areas of this country have been left out. This is so to the extent that there are now private companies in Malindi and Kwale which are now using off-grid opportunities to generate solar energy and are charging households Kshs100 per day for use. That is still very expensive compared to a country like Britain, where with about UK£15 a month, one is assured of electricity in a household, which is comparatively low. However, here in our country, bills continue to soar yet the capacity to produce and generate is very high. Madam Temporary Speaker, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) recently tried to do away with fixed costs, which is not going to help. This is because we can see that it is only affecting the lower end of the market, where the numbers are not very high because of the issues of penetration and coverage. However, the majority of Kenyans are still within the bandwidth that will obviously continue to be affected because of increased consumption. In fact, the way the fixed cost reduction formula has been done seems to discourage consumption. When you discourage consumption, you are actually discouraging productivity. Electricity is supposed to help our country generate more productivity and income. Therefore, Madam Temporary Speaker, I beg to support and urge this House to delve deeply into the matter around KP. We need to---

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Thank you, very much Senator. The next statement is from the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries to report on a Statement requested by Sen. Olekina regarding the alleged listing of Narok barley and sorghum farmers by the Cooperative Bank of Kenya in the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB). 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.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I have a Statement on the Business of the Senate for the week commencing---

On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): What is your point of order, Sen. Olekina?

I am not out of order in any way!

You do not have to be out of order yourself. Madam Temporary Speaker, I have a request. I had a Statement that was due to be given by---

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Order, Sen. Olekina! Please, resume your seat. I called out twice, which is our tradition. I am sorry; you were outside that door.

Yes, but normally our tradition and practice is that the Statement should be read when you are here, because you were the first person to give a supplementary question. I would, therefore, like to persuade you; so that we do not rewind our HANSARD reporting, because we have gone past that Order. We will, however, prioritize your Statement in the next sitting. Thank you. Proceed, Majority Leader. 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.

Hon. Senators, pursuant to Standing Order 46(2)(c), I hereby present to the Senate the Business of the House for the coming week. Pursuant to the Senate Calendar adopted by the Senate on 20th February, 2018, the Senate will proceed on a 30-day recess on the rise of the House today, 9thAugust, 2018, until Monday, 10thSeptember, 2018. In this regard, the senate will resume its sittings on Tuesday, 11th September, 2018, on the day the Senate Business Committee (SBC) will meet to schedule the Business of the House for the week. Subject to further direction by the SBC, the Senate will, on Tuesday, 11th September, 2018, continue with consideration of Business that will not be concluded in today’s Order Paper and any other Business scheduled by the SBC. On Wednesday, 12th September, 2018, and on Thursday, 13th September, 2018, the Senate will consider the Business that will not have been concluded on Tuesday and any other Business scheduled by the SBC. Hon. Senators, the following Bills are at the Second Reading stage:- (1) The Local Content Bill (Senate Bills No.10 of 2018); (2) The Physical Planning Bill (National Assembly Bills No.34 of 2017); (3) The Irrigation Bill (National Assembly Bills No.46 of 2017); and, (4) The Kenya Roads Bill (National Assembly BillsNo.47 of 2017). Additionally, there are Bills due for consideration at the Committee of the Whole, which the SBC will schedule accordingly. These are:- (5) The Food Security Bill (Senate Bills No.12 of 2017); (6) The County Boundaries Bill (Senate Bills No.6 of 2017); (7) The County Governments Retirement Scheme Bill (Senate Bills No.6 of 2018); (8) The Office of the Country Printer Bill (Senate Bills No.7 of 2018); (9) The Office of the County Attorney Bill (Senate Bills No.3 of 2018); (10) The Public Participation Bill (Senate Bills No.4 of 2018); (11) The Disaster Risk Management Bill (Senate Bills No.8 of 2018); (12) The Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officers)(Amendment) Bill (Senate Bills No.2 of 2018)l (13) The County Statistics Bill (Senate Bills No.9 of 18); (14) The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bills No.12 of 2018); and, (15) The County Governments (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bills No.13 of 2018). I urge standing Committees which are yet to conclude deliberations on the Bills and Petitions before them to use the recess period to expedite their consideration and submit reports within the requisite time to enable the House to dispense with the Business. 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.

Hon. Senators, we are now moving to the Supplementary Order Paper, which has been circulated and is on your screens. Next Order! 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.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I beg to move that the Energy Bill (National Assembly Bills No. 50 of 2017) be now read a Second Time. This is an important Bill. My colleagues who were in the last Parliament will remember that we debated, made amendments and passed this Bill. It was presented to the President for presidential assent and there were protracted negotiations when it was returned back to Parliament by the President. The Bill lapsed with the last Parliament and it had to be introduced afresh. What will interest many Senators is that, unlike many other Bills, this Bill has been published with the amendments that the Senate and the National Assembly made in the last Parliament, including the issues that were raised by Members in the last Parliament. Wisdom has it that we grow from one stage of knowledge to another. Perhaps, because time has changed, new ideas could have come up. So, Parliament is in order, in its wisdom, to consider the Bill afresh and incorporate the concerns that have come from members of the public. As I go to the details of this Bill, although I cannot exhaust them and most of the Members will raise various issues, I want to mention a few things that this Bill is talking about. If you read the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, Part 1 talks of energy as a function of the national Government. Part 2 of the Fourth Schedule provides that electricity and gas reticulation and energy regulation is a function of the county governments. I have seen some counties struggling to explain why they should have their own rural electrification or an agency that deals with regulation of energy. Some even complain that they have not been given the power to regulate. One of the issues that almost led to the impeachment of the Governor for Kericho County was the solar energy. There was a public/private partnership agreement that was considered to be fraudulent. In the first term of county governments, many counties were fighting to have the opportunity to generate energy for themselves. People felt that they were being let down by companies that deal with energy regulation like the Kenya Power Company and the Rural Electrification Authority and so on.

On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker.

What is your point of order, Sen. Shiyonga?

On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker. We were expecting to discuss the Ruaraka Land Report, but I do not see it on the Order Paper.

Hon. Senator, I thought that the Senate Majority Leader was out of order when you stood up. Members, the Supplementary Order Paper is before us. If anything is not on the Order Paper, it means that the Senate 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.

Madam Temporary Speaker, Sen. Naomi Shiyonga is a distinguished Senator in this House. With utmost respect, I thought that I was out of order. I want to take this opportunity to apologise to Sen. Shiyonga because, yesterday, when we were amending the Motion related to the membership of the Ad Hoc Committee which you co-sponsored, I hurriedly consulted with Sen. M. Kajwang’ and amended the Order Paper. Maybe, we should have gone further and consulted with Senator Shiyonga. Sen. Naomi Shiyonga is not in that Committee because she is not qualified; she is extremely competent. In fact, she is a maize farmer of distinguished standards. It is only that we were doing regional balancing. So, when she stood on a point of order, I was a little bit worried that she might raise that issue. I want to apologise to her, just in case she will stand again on any other issue. Whereas she has raised an important issue of Ruaraka land, you have dealt with it accordingly. We are all waiting anxiously for the day we shall have an opportunity to dissect that important Report. The Constitution gives energy issues to both the national Government and county governments. Energy is in the domain of what we call concurrent functions; it is not exclusive to the national Government. The provisions of this law open doors and make it possible for county governments to engage on energy reticulation and energy generation. I thank God that energy generation is no longer in the purview of only Government agencies; it is also possible for private entities to do so. Secondly, generation of energy is not an expensive venture to those who are able to deal with hydropower energy. As I will be mentioning in this Bill, people will realize that energy can come from wind, solar and biomass, which you can generate from your animal farm. We should remember that the Constitution says that all laws that existed before 2010 must be brought into conformity with the Constitution. Therefore, the main objective of this Bill is to ensure the management of energy in the country is within the confines of the Constitution. Part II of this Bill talks about the energy policy and integrated energy plan. As a county, it is important that when we engage in any business that is related to the management of the country, there must be a guiding policy. Of late, we have been discussing about the Big Four Agenda. Some people call it “the Big Four” and if they do not add the word “Agenda,” you would think that it is the big five animals minus one. My friend was joking the other day that it could be the big five animals minus the rhinos. This was in relation to the debate on the management of rhinos in this county. We will come to that at the opportune time. The Chair of the Committee, Sen. Kibiru, should be investigating that matter by now in order to come up with a serious report of the Senate that can be compared to the Solai Dam tragedy Report, the Ruaraka Land Report and many other landmark reports, including Sen. Murkomen’s Report on constitutional amendments in this House. These 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.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise to second this Bill which seeks to streamline and lay grounds for provision of power in the future. The matter has been interrogated very well by our able Senate Majority Leader. Being a lawyer, he has gone further to add more to the Bill. I would like to enlighten this House on some of the issues that are being addressed in this Bill. The Bills seeks to streamline energy to be in conformity with the Government’s Big Four Agenda. For this country to be industrialized, we must have energy that is affordable and in the right places, including social programmes. If we want to have quality education, we must have energy everywhere. There are many forms of energy which are covered in the Bill. We have the hydropower that we have always relied on, which has its own challenges. This Bill enumerates ways that will develop other energy sectors, for example, geothermal, wind power, gas and nuclear power. All these forms of energy are covered in the Bill and the administration of the same is done. There is a commission that is envisaged to run the issues of energy in the country, so that everything is synchronized. Madam Temporary Speaker, this afternoon, a major issue about the cost of energy, which is dear to all of us, came up. Therefore, this Bill gives a bit of flexibility to the rigid system, which mandated Kenya Power to be the only provider of power. It relaxes the system so that Kenyans can venture into and invest in this field. Madam Temporary Speaker, I appeal to this House that whatever this Bill envisages can only be achieved in the right local political climate. In this regard, Kenya will accrue benefits in a cheaper way if the politics is right. That way, we will reduce the cost of projects by foreign investors who bring money to our country. For example, it has taken two years to connect power from Suswa to the Coast, just because of some local politics in Isinya. I wish my brother, Sen. Olekina, was here. These are the kind of things that contribute to more costs. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is no doubt that Kenyans are looking forward to having affordable power. However, this will only happen if we have the right political climate and we have local investors who are not looking for big investments. I hope that when this Bill is passed and becomes an Act, there will be modalities to unlock local resources. For example, there is no reason pension funds cannot be invested in energy, rather than us borrowing money, which is expensive. 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.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. From the outset, I stand to support this very important Energy Bill, which is very concise and large. Madam Temporary Speaker, for a long time, most of the provisions that have been discussed in this Bill have probably been in separate Bills. However, this particular Bill seeks to consolidate all the various parts so that everything comes together. It consolidates the laws relating to energy so as to provide for national and county government functions; and to provide for the establishment of powers and functions of all those in the energy sector. Madam Temporary Speaker, what is impressive about this Bill is that it lays out structures, both at the national and at the county levels, so as to ensure that the whole energy sector is well mainstreamed. Looking through the provisions, it starts with a policy and plan that is clearly stipulated. In fact, the Bill stipulates that as sectorial plans are given, they must be hinged within a particular policy framework. It also looks at the issue of integrated national energy plan so that there is an energy plan at the national 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.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Hon. Senators, I have a communication to make before we proceed. Hon. Senators, I would like to acknowledge the presence in the Public Gallery this afternoon of visiting students and teachers from Maryland Academy School, Nandi County. In our usual tradition of receiving and welcoming visitors to Parliament, I extend a warm welcome to them. On behalf of the Senate and on my own behalf, I wish them a fruitful visit. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me this chance. I rise to support this Bill that is before this House for consideration. I am a Member of the Energy Committee. Having listened earlier to the comments by the Senate Leader Majority that committees need to up their game, a little bit, I agree with him. We, as a Committee, would have done more justice to this House given the voluminous nature of this Bill. We considered it in the traditional way and presented it to this House with a report. Be that as it may, I will make my submissions. We appreciate that things need to be done in a better way. This afternoon, many Senators had a challenge going through such a huge document in a short period. Given the challenge that we face nowadays of urgency, especially with the Government Bills, I appeal to the Senate Majority Leader to prioritise them so that we debate and send them to the National Assembly. Be that as it may, this is a good Bill. Many of our laws in this sector are now archaic and not in consonance with the provisions of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya. Therefore, the provisions of this Bill are commendable. I appreciate it because it adds value. However, as an enthusiast and a reader of matters energy, if falls a little bit short of what is expected in terms of its posterity standing and in view of the future where the world is moving in terms of the energy space. I feel that there is extremely a lot that will be expected of us, as a legislative body of this country. I will be sharing many of my thoughts later when we retreat to our Committee to consider the requests that would have been made by Members in terms of amendments to the clauses. I feel we need to include some provisions in this Bill to give it a more global standing. The beauty about it is that, it brings us up to the year 2018 where the world is on how to do our laws in terms of local content and who is to manage the energy 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.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): You have one more minute, Sen. Cheruiyot.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. Clauses 206 and 207 are very important. Those are the clauses that have been included in the Local Content Bill. I thank Sen. (Dr.) Zani, because I know the work she has done in that space. For us to now see the Government making such laws while considering the rights of local citizens, and including them as part of the Bill is quite commendable of the Senator and the House as a whole. Therefore, it is important that when we shall be making provisions either for licenses or the people who want to explore or do energy projects within counties, they should take due consideration to the provisions of the Local Content Bill, as has been expressed in this Bill. With those many remarks, Madam Temporary Speaker, I beg to support.

On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker. Am I in order to move a Motion which I have consulted you on at this point in time?

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Go ahead.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I beg to move the following procedural Motion:- THAT, pursuant to Standing Order No.31(3)(a) and (4), the Senate resolves to extend its sitting time today, Thursday, 9th August, 2018, until the conclusion of business appearing on Order Nos. 9 and 26. I ask Sen. Cheruiyot to second.

seconded.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Since there is no contribution, I will go ahead to put the question.

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.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise to support this important Bill. I think the Senate Majority Leader was very kind to the Committee that was dealing with this Bill. The purpose of committees is to have us interrogate some of the questions and Clauses. It is not enough to give them a warning. They should have given us a report. We are now debating a huge Bill without the input of the public and the Committee yet they had this Bill for 30 days. I do not think it is acceptable. The Senate Majority Leader must be a little rough on them on this one. Madam Temporary Speaker, may I begin by saying that Clause 7 of this Bill is very curious. Although the Senate Majority Leader read it, it is extremely curious. It states as follows- “(1) The Government shall facilitate the provision of affordable energy to all persons in Kenya”. However, Clause 7(2) appears to negate (1). It states:- “Where the National or County Government determines that a supply of energy in any area is necessary and upon assessment it is established to be commercially inexpedient to provide for the necessary reticulation by any licensee, the Cabinet Secretary or County Executive Committee member as the case may be, may undertake the provision of any such works or provide the funds necessary for the development of such works.” Clause 7(3) states as follows:- “Without limiting the generality of subsection (2), the Cabinet Secretary shall develop and implement a fair, transparent and equitable strategy to ensure that all households are connected to a supply of electricity by 2030.” I think the clause is mere political rhetoric because by 2030, the population will have increased. This clause is made on the assumption of the population in 2018 because in 2030, the population would have increased. The clause should have been worded better than this so that in 2030, you do not appear to have lost your goal. I am also of the view that we should make the clause on affordable energy a little better. We can polish this. That is why I said the Committee should have given us a better way of dealing with this. Madam Temporary Speaker, Kenyans are suffering because of expensive electricity bills, education and health. The Government says it will make it affordable yet at the moment, it is expensive. First of all, we should have had a criterion. How are we going to make it affordable to the common mwananchi who include mama mbogas because it is already expensive? Single-phase and three-phase are both expensive. Even when you pay, you have to wait for too long to be connected. When it goes to the Committee of the Whole, I will propose that we put quality control measures on provision of electricity. Even when Kenyans have paid for electricity, now speaking about Makueni County, they have waited for four to five years before being connected. Can we not make it mandatory that within a certain period of time upon payment, you shall be connected to the grid? 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.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. Although I stand to support this Bill, I would have hoped that it would have been discussed after all hon. Members had been given sufficient time to go through it. Although it is the second time it is coming here, but that is only good enough for those who were in the Eleventh Parliament. Although it has been with hon. Members, the most important thing I am trying to point out is that there is a Supplementary Order Paper, and this Bill is before the House courtesy of that Supplementary Order Paper. It is coming on a Thursday, and even if it was there yesterday, it was not there today. Madam Temporary Speaker, I do not want to carry out this conversation with the Senate Majority Leader, but when we have a Bill of this magnitude, it should either be on the Order Paper for the day or it is not. However, when it is being brought through a Supplementary Order Paper, then that is a little bit unkind to prosperity. I am saying this because, normally, in the interpretation of statutes, people want to read what the Senate thought, because we are the lawmakers. Madam Temporary Speaker, I know that technical people drafted this law and there must be a lot of material behind the generation of this statute or Bill. However, at the end of the day, the Bill speaks for itself. What we are presumed to have required of the law is that, first and foremost, it is expressed in terms of the words of this Bill. Secondly, legislative history is becoming a very important tool for interpretation of statutes. At the end of the day, somebody will want to hear what the Senator for Kericho County said. I am grateful that I was listening to him while I was somewhere, and I heard him saying very inspirational things. It was important and appropriate for every Member of the Senate to have a reasonable opportunity, which would require reasonable notice so that they are aware that this Bill was coming today. That way, they would have discussed it with the kind of scrutiny that this kind of Bill requires. That is important in terms of the fact that there was integration and conflation of several statutes collapsing existing agencies into one. We need to speak to all that in detail. Madam Temporary Speaker, I have listened to the Minority Whip, and he has raised quite a number of issues. It would have been better off if that opportunity was 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.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Thank you Senator. There being no other request, I now ask the Mover to reply.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I have listened to all the quality presentations from the Senate Minority Leader, the Members of the Committee on Energy and Sen. Cheruiyot who is a Member of the Committee. This is one of those Bills where there are quality contributions because we hold dearly matters of energy. The reason why energy is not part of the big four agenda is because it is a cross cutting issue and an enabler. We cannot create industrial growth when the cost of power is high. We need energy to ensure we have food security and grow food. It is a very important sector. Secondly, I would like to persuade my colleagues, including the Senate Minority Leader who made a very eloquent presentation to spend time to study about the authority. The authority is the first stage of enforcement of all matters of energy. What everyone should appreciate is that we are not debating about Kenya Power Company, KenGen and Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO) because they are the ones that carry the energy, distributing and reticulating. What this Bill has done is to ensure that you create an authority that will oversight the other agencies that are going to implement it. Also, it will give room for county governments to create their own equivalent of KPC and KETRACO in future when they have that capacity to do so. Subsequently, the questions raised by the Senate Minority Leader about enforcement and power reaching everybody are contained in the 46 functions listed for the Authority. The Authority is the first stage of enforcement. If it is unable to deliver matters related to faulty bills, wayleave

or questions to do with petroleum issues, the next stage of enforcement is the tribunal. If you cannot succeed in the tribunal, then you can go to the courts. The beautiful thing about this is that you have an institution/State agencies whose responsibility is purely to hold into account the agencies delivering power like KPC, KenGen and those who will generate any other power like renewal energy related agencies. 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.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Thank you, Majority Leader. It is so ordered; the question will be put next time.

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.

Madam Temporary Speaker. I beg to move the Motion:- THAT, Pursuant to Standing Order No.246, the Report of the Procedure and Rules Committee on Amendments to the Senate Standing Orders, laid on the Table of the Senate on Tuesday, 7th August, 2018, be approved. Madam Temporary Speaker, this is the second report of the Procedures and Rules Committee which was based on the review of the Senate Standing Orders. This was done after specific interests, procedures and things happened within the Senate to do with Statements. Many issues were raised at that time, for example, the growing number of Statements within the Senate. This is a good thing because it gave Members a chance to articulate various issues in their counties. However, there were very many statements and, at times, it would take a long time to go through all of them. Madam Temporary Speaker, many Senators shared their feelings and felt that Statements should be contained within one hour so that there is time to go through Motions and Bills. This would also enable us to discuss and improve on the turnover of the Bills from the Senate. It was also observed that after the Statement Hour, many Senators tended to move away, rather than engage in the Bills and Motions. Therefore, this is a focused attempt to put more interest in Motions and Bills. There were also complaints from various Senators, who sometimes felt that their Statements had not been placed in the Order Paper. There was also the need to balance legislative output versus the representative mandate of the Senate. Additionally, Madam Temporary Speaker, there was lack of clarity on the Members of Committees while processing responses to Statements. For example, Members or Chairpersons of various committees would not be present to give the Statements. Alternatively, even when they are there and ready to give the Statement, the Member who sought the Statement might not be there. There was also lot of riding over the Statements, so that if a Member asked a question or sought a Statement, many Members would subsequently request for more clarifications, and some of these were being given at the point of response. Further, other Members felt that for a long time, some of these Statements were not owned by the Chairpersons of the Committees because they got them from the Ministries. It was, consequently, felt that the responses to the Statements were not adequately interpreted. Because of all this, Madam Temporary, Speaker, a review of the Standing Orders became critical and necessary. The current Senate Standing Orders were adopted on 14th June, 2017, and amended on 14th December, 2017. However, at a Senate Leadership 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.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Order! You are protected.

Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Speaker. That provision once again gives the specificities about the format of that paper. It proposes that the Statements should not be excessively long and should not convey a particular view. All those details are there. We then have 46(e) which is Statements by the Chairperson of the Committee. Here, the Chairperson of a Committee is expected to give a Statement on the Floor of the House about the work of that Committee at least once every three months. He will inform the House of the number of Motions and Bills that have been processed in that committee. This is important because the whole House will now connect with the work for the various committees. This is now going to be 46(e) which is critical. For each of the Statements, the provisions in terms of the timelines and procedures have been put and this creates order on how the Statements will be brought. Standing Order No. 46(f)---

I think that the Senate Majority Leader and the Senate Minority Leader want to pay--- 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.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Order! Please, consult in low tones.

The Senate Majority Leader and the Senate Minority Leader may want to pay attention to this one for it is stated that they may have their time to make various Statements and various presentations to the Floor of the House. Lastly, Standing Order No. 47 handles the Personal Statements that are already part and parcel of this. The Committee makes two specific recommendations. It recommends;- “THAT, the Senate approves the proposed amendments to the Standing Orders of the Senate. THAT, pursuant to the provisions of the Standing Order No.251, the Senate resolves that the proposed amendments to the Standing Orders take effect upon approval of the Senate.” I beg to move and request Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. to second.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Thank you. Could we hear from Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr.?

Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise to second the Motion to adopt the Report of the Procedure and Rules Committee on the Review of the Standing Orders. The Statements under Standing Orders 46(a)-(f) and 47 and the portion of the Committee recommendations are very straight forward. It answers the questions that we have all had about the question of Statements. The sort of lack of interest by Chairpersons in the Plenary has been caused by the fact that they do not know how to answer questions. Once you put this in place, Committee Chairpersons will be under obligation to answer those questions requested. There is another step that they can call the Cabinet Secretary and matters can be addressed amicably. We do not say this loudly, but the Chairpersons of Committees have let us down in many respects. Therefore, Standing Orders No. 46(e) will take care of the work of the committees where they will give regular reports on the work of the committees. With that, we can live up to the expectations of this country that this is truly the ‘upper” House of the Parliament of Kenya. I second.

Madam Temporary Speaker, Sir, I will be very brief. I support the Report of the Procedure and Rules Committee in this Motion. This has been a point of concern to many of us. Madam Temporary Speaker, for those of us who were here in the last Senate, one of the most interesting times of debate where we would have so much interest from Members was during the Statement Hour. Unfortunately, in my opinion - I could be right or wrong - due to weak management of how this is executed, we ran into trouble and we could not conduct any other business. I caution that even for these new rules that are 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.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Thank you, Senator. There being no other request for contribution, I would now like to put the question. Since this is not a county matter, we are going to vote by acclamation.

Hon. Senators, I would like to defer the following Orders:-

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): We will now move to Order No. 26.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, I beg to move:- THAT, pursuant to Standing Orders 28 and 29, the Senate do adjourn until Tuesday, 11th September, 2018. Madam Temporary Speaker, this is a very straightforward Motion that is based on our calendar. It gives us again an opportunity to prepare to do Committee work. I hope that based on all the responses from the Senators the Committee Chairperson, vice chairperson and Members will take their work seriously over this period of time to ensure that when we come back, we will have everything in order to ensure that we move smoothly in so far bills are concerned. 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.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Sen. Orengo, you had already put in a request to speak. Proceed and take the Floor.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I did not want it to be taken for granted, and I think that is the way it should be. Nonetheless, I thank the Majority Leader for putting in a word for me. However, Madam Temporary Speaker, there is not much to be said in the sense that the calendar of the Senate is already predetermined, and that all of us are looking forward to this period of recess. This is not a recess to rest, but to do other work. Oversight will continue, whether we meet in committees or in plenary. So long as you are 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.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I stand to support the Motion. We have done well before we go on recess. This Senate has seen very many Bills coming back, some of which were from the Eleventh Parliament. They were not progressed to a point of becoming Acts. So, we are pursuing them, as the Senate, because they are very important to the counties, even as we forge better relationships with them. As provided for under Article 110(3) of the Constitution, we will also ensure that the Bills that are before Parliament are quickly placed in the relevant House either in the National Assembly or the Senate. As we go on the recess, it will give us time, as Senators, to link up with the county assemblies. I hope that every Senator will link with the Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) and engage a bit more with them, in order to find out where the gaps are, especially, at the committee level. Many Committees will be able to link up with the committees within the county assemblies and strengthen their role of oversight. By linking up with the committees within the county assemblies, we will be able to share our experiences and enhance the oversight role within the counties. We also look forward to the rotating sittings of the Senate in the counties, which is now becoming a reality. This was an idea mooted in the Eleventh Parliament, but it did not happen. Members will be very excited about this. As we move into the various counties and articulate issues, the Senate will get more entrenched in the country as a House that addresses the interests of counties. These issues include the allocation of revenue to the counties, the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) and how it works, the bills that come from the counties, implementation, corruption that is taking place within the counties, et cetera . In the Eleventh Parliament, we debated a lot on the issue of corruption and that it should not be devolved. Those are the issues that this Senate continues to address. More Kenyans are beginning to understand what the Senate is really about. The Senate of the Twelfth Parliament is very vibrant and on spot in handling the issues. The Senate is articulate, eloquent, hard and visible. We pray for that to continue. Even as we go on recess, we hope to come back more rejuvenated to serve our country as Senators. Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. 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.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Thank you, Sen. (Dr.) Zani. Proceed, Sen. Cheruiyot.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise to support this Motion for Adjournment. This is scheduled, but it does not mean that we should not share or thoughts as to whether or not we agree to it, as is the procedure on any matter that is laid before this House. This is still an extremely busy time for us. The fact that we shall not be showing up in the Chamber does not mean that the work of the Senate has been put to halt. I know for a fact that many of the Senators will be committed in their Committee work. Personally, as Sen. (Dr.) Zani has advised, I intend to spend a good amount of time with my county assembly. I will try to drill into them the desire and need to do our work as legislators and ensure that devolution succeeds. The reason I say that is because, on many occasions – and these are some things that keep me and many other Senators awake at night – we are added to the village WhatsApp groups, which is the easiest tool of communication nowadays, from different parts of your county. Residents would complain about issues such as a road that is inaccessible, a dispensary that does not have sufficient medication, et cetera . One of the tools that we can use, as a House, despite the fact that we do not do executive work, is to pile pressure and let our county assemblies--- I personally feel that our county assemblies have not fully exercised the powers that are within their discretion. When you break down the County Government Act and follow up to the establishment of county assemblies, it gives our County Assemblies similar though not equal powers to what Parliament can do. Therefore, this new spirit of investigation where Parliament appears to be taking a very strong and vocal role on matters of accountability needs to passed on to our county assemblies. Many of our county assemblies in this country are under County Executive capture. The county governments are using projects like it used to happen in our country in the KANU era. When you were supportive of the regime, then you could be assured development in your constituency. However, if you were in opposition, then you were easily side-lined. Unfortunately, many of the governors have taken that path. The saddest bit of it, is that they do it with a support of a divided county assembly. I would urge the county assemblies to properly execute their mandate together so that they can succeed together. This dangling mentality that is being taken up by many of county governments is used to divide county assemblies. There is no assurance of continued camaraderie between county assemblies and county governor as a sure way to achieve development. Our legislative work is to debate and pass Bills. Many Kenyans are now fond of the Senate. They are appreciating the good work we are doing. It may appear as if it is self- serving to praise ourselves as Senators, but when a good thing is said about us, we need to be proud of it. Earlier on, I was following the contributions from my colleague online. I saw a leading journalist running a poll on which House Kenyans prefer between the Senate and the National Assembly. This journalist works for NTV . By the time, I was logging off, 50 replies were in favour of the Senate. Not a single mention of the “Lower” House. This is 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.

On a point of order, Madam Temporary Speaker.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): There is a point of order from Sen. (Dr.) Zani.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Thank you, Sen. (Dr.) Zani. Fortunately, I did not hear.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. If I made any mistake I do apologise. There are two ad hoc Committees handling matters that are extremely important to farmers in this country; that is, the one handling challenges in the tea sector chaired by yours truly and the other one handling the challenges in the maize sector.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Hon. Kipkirui Aaron Cheruiyot, I have heard you say words that were commented on earlier about “yours truly.” Who is “yours truly?”

Madam Temporary Speaker,

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Sen. Cheruiyot, go ahead.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I was not planning to say anything but I thought the record must reflect some of the things that we have done. During this period, we managed to get a Fund that will enable Senators do their work in terms of oversight. I that will be put to effect quickly so that the money we distribute to counties every year is put to good use. That will ensure that Senators are felt at the county level. I am happy about the sitting that we will have in Uasin Gishu County. I hope we will seize the moment to interrogate things that affect that region in terms of devolved functions, so that the Senate can be felt not only in Uasin Gishu County but all the neighbouring counties for the week that we will be there. I am a little disappointed that at the end of this period today, we have failed to take up something we should have. The Report on Ruaraka Land should have been debated today. I see no reason whatsoever why we did not suspend everything we were 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.

(Sen. (Prof.) Kamar): Hon. Senators, that brings us to the end of today’s business. Therefore, the House stands adjourned until Tuesday, 11th September, 2018, at 2.30 p.m. The Senate rose at 7.40 p.m. 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.