President William Ruto has reversed his own policy on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and the Naivasha Inland Depot after his administration announced plans to continue with the two multibillion-shilling projects.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen on Thursday announced a planned revamp of the inland container depot that Dr Ruto had in the run-up to the August polls described as a “selfish programme to the detriment of the coastal people”.
The Ruto administration is seeking additional Chinese loans in billions of shillings to extend the SGR line to Malaba even after it stoked controversy over the contract that former President Uhuru Kenyatta entered into with Beijing.
Mr Murkomen yesterday told Saturday Nation that implementation of the projects has “no contradiction” with what Dr Ruto said. He said this without providing any further explanation.
Immediately after taking over the Transport docket, the CS proceeded to make public part of the SGR contract in what appeared as an attempt by the new administration to scandalise the multibillion-shilling project.
Mr Murkomen on Thursday travelled from the Nairobi Railway Terminal to the Naivasha facility through the SGR passenger train in the company of Chinese Ambassador Zhou Pingjian.
“The government is keen to develop the Naivasha Inland Container Depot to handle goods destined to various destinations in the country and the region. We are also keen to utilise rail transport, which is fast, safe, and cheaper to enhance transportation of goods and people,” he said.
“In the long run, we would like to complete the connection of the SGR from Suswa to Kisumu through Bomet, Nyamira, parts of Kisii and later to Malaba.”
Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir—who had welcomed Dr Ruto’s announcement of the reversal of the Naivasha ICD plan, and the reverting of port operations to Mombasa—yesterday said he has no problems with the revamp of the Naivasha Dry Port so long as it will not hurt businesses in Mombasa.
“Every part of the country has to grow economically. The facility in Naivasha is good so long as it is not done at the expense of other regions. As long as there is free trade, there is no problem,” said Mr Nassir.
The Naivasha ICD meant that Mombasa County lost a total of Sh17.4 billion annually to mandatory transfer of cargo through SGR to Nairobi, a study by University of Nairobi’s School of Business showed. A total of 2,987 locals also lost their jobs, and about 25,000 truck drivers and their assistants were directly affected.
Transporting a container to and from Nairobi using the SGR costs Sh50,000, plus Sh5,000 handling fee, Sh25,000 for ferrying the container from the SGR to a nearby CFS, and Sh10,000 empty container return charges.
Prof X.N Iraki of the University of Nairobi said “bastardising” the dry port in the run-up to the polls was purely politics to appeal to the voters in the Coast region.
He said it was clear that President Ruto was not going to reverse the SGR contract, citing his friendship with his Uganda counterpart Yoweri Museveni as having influenced the decision to extend SGR to Malaba to connect with the neighbouring country’s line. “It also makes strategic sense to extend SGR to the Uganda border. Remember our railway was originally Uganda railway,” said Prof Iraki.
“Bastardising the Naivasha dry port was politics. The reality is that he has to start creating his legacy. It is also possible that the contract to extend SGR to Malaba was already signed. I had predicted that Ruto would not reverse the SGR contract. The stakes are too high. Did you notice China never talked as that controversy [on the contract] raged?”
ODM chairman John Mbadi, National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi and Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi said the contradiction “demonstrates lack of coherence and clarity of policy that has characterised the UDA administration from day one”.
Mr Mbadi said extending the SGR will force Kenya to borrow additional billions at a time when the economy is struggling. He termed it surprising that the new administration has embarked on mega infrastructure projects instead of supporting the social economy for people to have money in their pocket.
“Whatever they said during the campaigns was meant to hoodwink voters. They were aware that SGR was meant to link the region, not just to end in Naivasha. Extending it is not a bad idea, but it means we will have to borrow more,” said Mr Mbadi.
“The problem is that we have hit our borrowing ceiling. Are we going to continue with major infrastructure projects at the expense of economic growth? You either continue with massive infrastructure projects or social economic programmes.”
Mr Wandayi said it was disturbing for the government to continue flip-flopping on major policy decisions with far-reaching economic implications, while Mr Osotsi accused the new administration of dishonesty. BY DAILY NATION