The politics behind lucrative Chinese infrastructure deals

A China Road and Bridge Corporation employee at work on the standard gauge railway. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Transport PS Mr Nyakera Irungu, confessed that a Chinese contractor had started constructing a section of the Nairobi-Naivasha standard gauge railway without the knowledge of his ministry.
  • China Road and Bridge Corporation was building pillars and tunnels through Maasailand when even the route the line would follow had not been determined by the government.

Chinese contractors rule the roost in Kenya. The other day, the Principal Secretary for Transport, Mr Nyakera Irungu, publicly confessed that a Chinese contractor had started constructing a section of the Nairobi-Naivasha standard gauge railway without the knowledge of his ministry.

Incredibly, China Road and Bridge Corporation was proceeding with the work — building pillars and tunnels through Maasailand when even the route the line would follow had not been determined by the government.

An environmental impact assessment study had yet to be done, no agreement had been reached with the Kenya Wildlife Service on the sections of national parks where the railway would pass, and, although a great deal of work had been accomplished with regard to finalising financing agreements for the section, the pacts had not been signed.

Where else can a contractor be allowed to operate with this level of impunity? It only happens where a contractor has the patronage and political connections of the very top, where he believes he is untouchable and can, therefore, get away with murder.

It is incredible, indeed that the contractor had the temerity to proceed even when something as basic as the route for the railway had not been decided.

In my view, what happened in Naivasha was not just a display of arrogance and impunity by the Chinese, it is a statement of the growing power and influence of a certain group of Chinese contractors, who have learnt the art of patronage politics and how to play different factions in government against one another.

Away from the public eye, the influential China Construction and Engineering Company (CCEC) has been lobbying intensely in high offices, hoping to be awarded the contract to build the section of the standard gauge railway between Naivasha, through Kisumu, to Malaba.

POWER AND INFLUENCE

But even with its influential backers, the CCEC has not been able to beat the power and influence of China Communications Construction (CCC), the mother company of China Road and Bridge.

On Tuesday, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia told me that he had made it clear to the CCEC and its political backers that his ministry has chosen the option of having the whole railway line — from Mombasa all the way to Malaba — built by one contractor that can be held accountable for standards and seamless operations between Mombasa and Malaba.

What is clear, however, is that the good technical arguments aside, it is an open secret that major political undercurrents explain the decision by the Transport ministry.

At play are intense subterranean factional fights among the political elite over opportunities to patronise and broker Chinese-funded projects. Being a broker or point man for a big Chinese contractor involved in a huge project has become lucrative.

And, looking at the trends, what you see is a situation where each of the Chinese contractors doing a major project has aligned itself with a political point man or broker, mainly well-connected operatives with friends in high offices.

BACKERS REMAIN IN CONTROL

This background explains why CCC and its backers remain in total control. It is noteworthy that apart from being contracted to build the whole line, the CCC group has also been awarded the contract to operate the railway services.

A team of top government officials has just returned from China and Australia where they went to conduct due diligence and visit railway companies being run by the CCC group. The arrangement is that the group will run SGR for five years.

With Chinese companies becoming more and more dominant in the infrastructure space, building ports, roads, electricity transmission lines, and railways, are we likely to see an upsurge in resentment of Chinese contactors?

This is a pertinent question, especially after Maasai youths recently attacked Chinese labourers working on the Naivasha-Nairobi line. I do not buy the argument that what happened in Narok was a genuine rebellion by ordinary Maasai peasants agitating for their rights.

This whole thing is about manipulation of grassroots politics by the local elite with an eye on playing the politics of compensation — groups setting themselves up to extort rent from the standard gauge railway.

The government has spent more than Sh8 billion on land compensation between Mombasa and Nairobi. It is now the turn of the Maasai to eat.

Clearly, land compensation is going to be a big issue, especially between Naivasha and Malaba, considering that the line will pass through heavily populated areas.

The approved route is from Naivasha through Narok, Bomet, Kisumu, Yala, Bumala, and on to Malaba.