Queries linger over standard gauge rail project

A theme of secrecy runs through the standard gauge railway project that Kenya is building from Mombasa to Nairobi.

Last week, civil society activist Okoiti Omtatah was arrested for alleged possession of documents which the government deems confidential, relating to the railway project.

Omtatah says he was driven around the city and eventually to the Kilimani police station, where the only interest of those that had arrested him was to find out how he had come across the documents.

In proceedings before the High Court in a case that Omtatah has filed, questioning the project, the Attorney-General has taken the same line, that Omtatah’s documents are inadmissible unless he can disclose their source.

Due to the secrecy that has always surrounded the project, its exact origins remain unclear, and although it has now kicked off, its rationale is still significantly unarticulated.

What is known is that the project was conceived in the Mwai Kibaki era and inherited by Jubilee. Ordinarily, a project involving so much money would be publicly disclosed and a parliamentary endorsement would ideally be sought. There has been no role for Parliament in this project, other than in fighting the fires that have followed the project.

In addition to a formal parliamentary process, it is usual for the political leadership to explain projects of this nature to the public. For example, the laptop project has been articulated at a popular level, as the government seeks a public buy-in. The railway project, on the other hand, lacks political championship and is the baby of technocrats like Permanent Secretary Nduva Muli, who is the official spokesperson for it in government.

In October 2012, business writer Jaindi Kisero wrote a story about the project in The East African, with the fitting headline “Kenya, China quietly strike deal on modern railway line”, a fortuitous recognition of the secret status of the project. The story reported that the Kibaki Cabinet had “quietly” authorised the Kenya Railways Corporation to develop a mechanism for financing the project.

Thereafter, President Uhuru Kenyatta braved the opposition that had by then emerged, and officiated at its launch in Mombasa in November 2013, declaring that he would want this to become the legacy of his presidency.

NEW ISSUES

New issues have since emerged, including complaints by residents of the Mlolongo area who have constituted themselves into the Nairobi National Park Borderlands Residents Association.

This association has independent complaints about the project based on entirely new grounds, namely, that the project will deprive them of their private property, and, secondly, that significant environmental implications remain unaddressed as the project goes ahead. The residents have brought an action in the High Court, seeking the stoppage of the project until their grievances are addressed.

According to papers filed in the court action, their first engagement with the authorities over the project happened only in January when persons they describe as trespassers entered their land, under armed escort, announcing that they were surveying the railway line which would pass on the land, from which they would then be evicted.

The suit documents cite an impact assessment report compiled by the Kenya Railways Corporation and the Chinese company which recommends the development of a Comprehensive Resettlement Action Plan prior to any land acquisition for the project.

The committee also noted that public consultation in Mlolongo involved only 70 people, while the population affected by the project numbers more than one million people.

An issue that remains unaddressed is the cost of compensation if a compulsory acquisition of land has to occur. The residents claim that at a cost of Sh80 million an acre, billions will be needed to compensate more than 400 acres that may have to be acquired. This cost does not form part of the already considerable cost of the railway line.

The initial objection to this project was based on cost, which has been argued to be unmanageable. There were also objections around the fact that the standard gauge railway line, which is a totally new line, is considerably more costly than if the government rehabilitated the existing line.

There was also concern that since the new line would be incompatible with what already exists in Uganda and Kenya, the country is in effect erecting a costly white elephant.

A World Bank report on the options for railway infrastructure for Kenya, released last year, considered the benefits and drawbacks in the choices between the proposed standard gauge railway and refurbishing the existing line.

The report concluded that “there is no economic or financial case for a standard gauge railway in the [East African Community] area at this time”.
It recommended that a refurbishment of the existing track would be the most feasible option. Other than cost, this option obviously also avoids the environmental and private property issues that have now emerged.

Unfortunately, opportunities for a public discussion on the railway project have been few. The lack of participation and the crackdown on information seems calculated to present the country with a fait accompli.

Secrecy is an ally of corruption. Omtatah has claimed in his court papers that the project is “a breathtaking collusive scheme designed to procure the standard railway at artificial, non-competitive price levels”.

Questions on the railway project transcend the country’s polarised politics and must be addressed as such.

Answers are needed on the choices discarded, the environmental implications, and, of course, pricing, procurement and financing, none of which have been provided convincingly.

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