Kenya liberalises power sector

Sept. 4, 1997 The Kenyan government has issued a bill to liberalise power sector in a bid to meet set conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced late August.
Under the bill, called the Electric Power Bill 1997, the private sector will be allowed to enter the field of commercial generation of electric power.
If passed by parliament, the bill will introduce new provisions regarding the issuance, denial and revocation of licenses for the generation or distribution of electric power.
It also provides for the establishment of the Electricity Regulatory Board as an autonomous organisation to regulate the generation, supply, transmission and distribution of the electricity and remove governmental involvement in the sector.
The bill also seeks to impose a 5- % levy on all electricity consumers in the country to enable a fund to be set up for supporting electrification programs in rural areas.
Under one of the IMF conditions for loan-resuming negotiation, which have been agreed on by the Kenyan government, Kenya should improve management and push forward privatisation in the power industry.
Kenya also has to safeguard the independence of the Revenue Authority, set up an independent and powerful anti-graft body and ensure accountability and transparency in public finance.
The Kenyan government has reiterated to the IMF its commitment to making concrete measures to solve these problems as soon as possible to pave the way for resuming negotiations over IMF aid package arrangement.
The IMF halted a $ 205-million loan package on July 31, citing high-level corruption and bad governance as the reason.