By Elimu Assistant Team 
ENGLISH COMPREHENSION TESTS
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
If you travel by plane from Europe to Nairobi by night, you know you have reached African soil when the lights disappear and darkness dominates the landscape. Africa is a dark continent, thanks to its energy shortage and it remains poor due to its failure to generate enough power.The Netherland alone produces as much electricity per year as the whole of Sub – Saharan Africa, minus South Africa. Even if you are lucky enough to have electricity, you still have to contend with the frequent power cuts.
Just about everyone owns a cell phone these days but most lack power to recharge them. Universal access to electricity should have been one of the Millenium Development Goals(MDGs) for this continent suffers from “energy poverty” just as much as material poverty. Affordable, reliable and accessible electricity is a basic right and must never be considered a luxury.
Yet every time there is drought, we know that prices rise and electricity rationing is frequent. This is unacceptable in the 21st century, especially when we claim to be a progressive nation.
The government is looking towards the Gibe III Hydroelectric Project on the Omo River in Ethiopia as a source to meet its increasing electricity demand. It is projected that Kenya will purchase 500MW of the expected 1,870MW output from the hydro- project.
However, feasibility studies suggest that the Gibe Project will have a devastating effect on Lake Turkana and its people. Research indicates that 80 per cent of waters of Lake Turkana come from the Omo River, and when the Gibe Project is fully operational, the water level of the Lake could fall by as much as 10 metres. This will endanger the livelihoods of 20,000 fishermen and destroy the Omo Delta as a grazing reserve for several nomadic communities in the contested Ilemi Triangle.
One wonders why the government is not, instead looking at alternative sources of energy like the Lake Turkana wind power project. This wind farm is under construction and will consist of 353 wind turbines.
Electricity production is expected to begin later this year and when fully operational next year, it will provide 300MW of clean power to the national grid. That figure represents 17 per cent of Kenya’s planned power needs for 2012. Kenya is ranked fifth worldwide and first in Africa in terms of wind power generation potential.
Yet all of this requires long-term planning, financing and investment. Put another way, energy like every other economic item, requires good governance, integrity and visionary leadership.
When you have leadership hell-bent on turning public utilities into personal honey pots and making public appointments based on cronyism, you know you are still in the dark age.
What we recently witnessed with the ICC farce and judicial appointments is a confirmation that we have energy and material poverty because of poverty in leadership. We will remain doomed in darkness unless new, enlightened leadership offers us light and hope urgently.
(Adopted from Sunday Nation of February 5, 2011)
ENGLISH COMPREHENSION Questions
a) Why does the author refer to Africa as a “dark continent”? (2mks)
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b) Why does the author mention the Netherlands in this passage? (2mks)
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c) Why is the phrase ‘energy poverty’ put within quotation marks? (2mks)
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d) Yet all this requires long-term planning and investment. (rewrite adding appropriate question tag) (1mk)
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e) Identify one instance of irony in this passage. 2mks)
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f) What evidence is given to show that Kenya experiences bad governance? Give your answer in note form. (4mks)
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g) What reason does the author give to show that electricity is a basic need? (2mks)
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h) Describe the author’s attitude towards Kenyan leadership. (2mks)
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i) Explain the meaning of the following expressions as used in the passage. (3mks)
Personal honey pots ………………………………………………………………………..
Farce ……………………………………………………………………………………….
Feasibility …………………………………………………………………………………..
Comprehension Marking Scheme
a)
Africa does not generate enough electricity.
Poor leadership also makes it a dark continent. 2mks
b)
The author mentions the Netherland to show how little electricity the
Continent produces.
c)
The phrase is put within the quotation marks because it does not refer to
lack of basic needs but lack of electricity. 2mks
d)
Yet all this requires long term planning, financing and investment, doesn’t it?1mk
(check correct punctuation)
e)
It is ironical that almost everyone owns a cell phone these days , yet most lack power to charge them.
The Gibe III Hydroelectric project is meant to meet the increasily demands yet the project portends danger on the Lake Turkana and its people . 2mks
f)
The government is not looking for alternatives sources of energy/ Lake Turkana wind power project.
The leadership is hell-bent on turning public utilities into personal honey – pots (corruption)
Appointments are based on cronyism.
The ICC farce.
g)
Just about everyone owns a mobile phone these days, but most lack power to Charge. (2mks)
h)
The authors attitude towards Kenyan leadership is contemptuous / hateful/ disdainful/ scornful/ despising/ spiteful
When you have leadership hell-bent on turning public utilities into personal honey pot and making public appointments based on cronyism.
i)
Personal honey – pots – refers to individualized sources of wealth/pleasant/ enjoyment
Farce – a satire / nonsense/ absurdity/ comedy/ joke/ mockery/ridicule/shame
Feasibility – possibility/ probability/ likelihood/ practicability/ workability/utility
