SGR gives us classic example of politics boarding a train

It probably was a little jarring that when President Uhuru Kenyatta triumphantly launched the standard gauge railway passenger service on Wednesday, a popular items on Kenyan news websites was that of Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho being barred from the event.

That a bit of pull and shove could cloud the unveiling of a key Jubilee flagship project is illustrative of the extent to which politics has permeated the single biggest infrastructure investment in Kenya since independence.

The Joho issue might have been a petty sideshow harking back to a combative governor craving to flex his muscles and a president determined not to bend.

However, it is related to a bigger political feud that has been played out in full public glare. The president has pulled out all the stops to milk maximum political capital out of the SGR, while the Opposition reacted by playing up outstanding issues on alleged corruption and inflated cost around the project.

It was notable that in his statement on the project on Wednesday, Orange Democratic Movement presidential candidate Raila Odinga decried that Mr Joho, the host governor, had been prevented from attending an event in his own county.

NEVER OPPOSED

But the more important statement was his clarifying that the Opposition had never been opposed to the SGR, but only to the said corruption, vowing that the culprits would be dealt with if the National Super Alliance came to power.

He also, significantly, absolved the Chinese government and contractors from blame on the corruption allegation, saying that the perpetrators were Kenyans who would be identified at the appropriate time.

Those statements were telling because they seem like climb-down from previous statements made by Mr Odinga and other opposition leaders.

There have been many statements from Nasa leaders and officials from the constituent parties even before the alliance was formed harshly critical of the SGR.

It was just recently around the launch of Nasa that opposition leaders made statements interpreted in some circles as threats to cancel some Jubilee projects.

The threats alarmed many in the business community as well as foreign investors. It is understood that the Chinese embassy in Kenya was particularly alarmed and on behalf of Chinese contractors, technology companies and other corporations quietly sought clarification from the Opposition’s leadership.

They were assured that there was no intention to scrap any projects if Nasa came to power, but there would be audits on misappropriation of funds.

PLACATE CHINESE

Mr Odinga’s statement on Wednesday again seemed designed to placate the Chinese, who are already almost guaranteed tenders for the next phases of the SGR.

The other interesting element was Mr Odinga recalling that the railway had actually been the brainchild of the grand coalition government when he was Prime Minister sharing power with President Mwai Kibaki.

The issue, he explained, was that on inheriting the project, Jubilee cancelled a tender already signed of Sh227 billion then awarded a new one to the same China Road and Bridge Corporation at a higher cost of Sh350 billion.

As he talked on Wednesday, Mr Odinga must have been keenly aware that it might be politically unwise to come out openly against a project that has so excited the county.

He would also had had the benefit on intimate knowledge of the history and his own engagement with the promoters of the SGR dating back to his time as Prime Minister.

There was probably little he could do to pull the rug from under President Kenyatta’s feet at this late stage.

Although the SGR was indeed conceived under the previous government, actual construction commenced under President Kenyatta’s watch, and from very early on it was prioritised as a flagship project that would come to define his legacy and delivery on the Jubilee manifesto.

PROJECT COMPLETED

A lot of time and effort was invested in making sure that the project was completed, with the launch date set, not by accident, just as the official campaigns for the August 2017 General Election started.

If Mr Odinga resented that, he could not openly espouse it, but maybe only wonder what might have been had things turned out differently.

It is on record that as early as 2009, Prime Minister Odinga was directly involved is a series of steps that led to the government granting China Road and Bridge Corporation rights to undertake a feasibility study at no charge, onwards to drawing the engineering and architectural designs, determining the costing, helping secure financiers and ultimately getting the construction contract.

A key point man for the Chinese company at the time was controversial businessman and political operative Jimi Wanjigi.

When Jubilee came to power, Mr Wanjigi, a former schoolmate of President Kenyatta, was elbowed aside, and China Road and Bridge Corporation re-awarded the same tender through new intermediaries. Again, government’s procurement laws were completely ignored, as were all other guidelines towards transparency, accountability and assurance of value for money.

RAINBOW COALITION

Mr Wanjigi, interestingly, was deeply involved behind the scenes in negotiations that formed the National Rainbow Coaliton, which brought Kibaki to power in 2002 after teaming with Mr Odinga and other politicians who had abandoned Kanu when then President Daniel arap Moi had handpicked a young Kenyatta as his chosen successor.

He was also very present in the 2008 post-election violence settlement that formed the Kibaki-Odinga power sharing agreement.

In 2012, he was again a factor in the moves that united Kenyatta and his now William Ruto, now the Deputy President, under the Jubilee banner.

More recently, he was seen on the dais at Uhuru Park having whispered conversations with Mr Odinga when Nasa leaders gathered to unveil their presidential candidate.

The Jubilee campaign reacted by putting up banners in Nairobi “exposing” Mr Wanjigi as “The hidden Kikuyu owner of Nasa”.

CLOSE PARTNER

It is interesting that as Mr Wanjigi gravitates towards Nasa, a former close partner who was adversely mentioned with him in the Anglo Leasing scandal that blighted President Kibaki’s first term, Mr Kibaki's former personal assistant Alfred Getonga, is in the Jubilee camp.

There is an interesting subplot in the whole affair. One of the major talking points from President Kenyatta’s address on Wednesday was his vow to sanction the death penalty for railway vandals. Mr Odinga agreed with the president on tough action, but took issue with the threat of execution that is not supported by the law.

However, Mr Kenyatta’s extraordinary threat may have been based on erroneous information that blamed damaged guard rails on opposition sabotage of the SGR as part of an attempt to undermine him. The narrative was quickly spread by Jubilee bloggers then repeated on the morning of the railway’s launch by Egerton University lecturer Machira Apollos on a television talk show. It turned out that those arrested were regular vandals who steal road signs, guard rails and all other metal they can get hold of for sale to dealers whose main export market is China!