A motion by Laikipia County Woman Representative on the reduction of the cost of electricity has revealed that powerful individuals in the political circle are behind the high cost of the key product in the country.
In the motion tabled before the National Assembly on Wednesday, March 22, Kagiri seeks to have the Kenya Power and Lighting Company publicise the agreements it entered into with Individual Power Producers (IPPs) who, besides the state-owned Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), supply KPLC with electricity.
“Kenya Power has entered into Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with both KenGen and the IPPs and procures power from them at unregulated rates; noting that, there is a need to regulate all IPPs in the country and publicize their locations, stakeholders, directors, management and their addresses and agreements entered into with Kenya Power,” the motion by Kagiri read in part.
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In her argument, Kagiri said that in 2020, KPLC paid Ksh44 billion to IPPs which produce 25% of electricity in the country and Ksh38 billion to KenGen which produces 75% of the electricity used in the country.
She further noted that Kenya Power buys a single unit of electricity from KenGen at Ksh5 shillings and 30 cents and Ksh195 shillings a unit from the Individual Power Producers (IPPs).
Seconding Kagiri in the motion to reduce the cost of electricity in the country, Seme MP James Nyikal blamed IPPs for the high cost of electricity stating that their key interest is to make huge profits at the expense of the common mwananchi.
“The next thing is the issue of the Individual Power Producers and the Power Purchase Agreement. Mr Speaker this is the killer. these agreements have only one purpose; to ensure that IPPs make a profit and a huge profit without complete regard of the cost on the consumers,” Nyikal said.
In his contribution, Dadaab MP Farah Maalim said the motion on the reduction of the cost of electricity is long overdue adding that; “the problem we have in this country is what we call the elite capture of the economy of the country itself. And the elite I’m talking about is none other than the political elite from the word go,
“Anywhere in the world there is something called the conflict of interest, this is the only country where you have a Minster for Finance who also owns a bank or has an interest in a bank. We have to take back our country and give it back to Kenyans, we have to get independence from the state captured by the political elite who have taken over this country,” Farah Maalim said.
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino blamed the high cost of living on the high cost of electricity stating that no country can do without electricity and that increasing the price of electricity in Kenya increases the prices of goods and services.
“What has killed KPLC in this nation is poor leadership, that is poor management and to be precise corruption. I’m in Public Investment Committee where we oversight KPLC and the losses it is making Mr Speaker, you can’t imagine,” Owino said.
