An unfinished Chinese rail in Kenya has divided the East African country and its political parties due to the large debt the project has accumulated. Rail project’s billion-dollar cost is mired in corruption allegations, according to New York Timesand has become such a polemical issue that Kenya’s next presidential election could be tilted in favor of who proposes the best solution for Kenya. debt to China.
Currently, Kenya owes China $4.7 billion for the construction of 367 miles of new railway. This was supposed to connect the port of Mombasa with Uganda, but the railway currently running from Mombasa, through the national parks of Nairobi, only ends in the Kenyan Rift Valley next to a dirt road. This railway was officially called the Standard Railway, and it was supposed to replace the aging rail system introduced by the British.
A colonial superpower gave way to the next, when the administration of outgoing Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta delivered the project to China without any open competitive bidding to lower the cost. Nor is there an internal environmental impact study; The only study done by the Chinese, according to NYTwhich several Kenyan lawyers sued the Kenyatta government.
Standard Gauge Railway promises it will benefit the Kenyan economy with freight trains running at 50 miles per hour and passenger trains running at 74 miles per hour. But not long after the project kicked off in 2013, allegations of corruption followed. Kenyan senators and Chinese project managers have asked the lawyers challenging the project to withdraw their lawsuits in exchange for damages or bribes of up to $1 million.
Allegations of corruption emerged from there: there were also false claims of land ownership when the railway was extended, and shady dealings full of overpayments. Read all New York Times summary report because the allegations are extensive.
Many activists and public figures openly accuse Kenyatta and his administration of profiting from the Chinese-funded project. And giving the contract hastily to China, it is not surprising that a court in Kenya ruled the contract was indeed illegal. China says it won’t finish the last rail section until Kenya starts to refund, so Kenyas are being taxed to repay the debt. Needless to say, this has made the railway unpopular with some Kenyans.
The railway was also unpopular with some workers who said the project put roads and railways into competition after government officials asked importers to use trains, even though it cost twice as much to transport. Freight. Truckers in Mombasa say this harms the trucking industry and costs thousands of jobs in the fuel and freight sectors.
Now, presidential chiefs William Ruto and Raila Odinga want to capitalize on the railroad’s unpopularity and turn it into votes in Tuesday’s election. Of them solutions ranging from deporting Chinese workers to reorganizing Kenya’s debt. It was a mess. It has been five years since the inauguration of the new line, but the Standard Gauge Railway is still incomplete and its promises have not been fulfilled.
