CS Mohammed wants mega projects used to leverage Kenya’s influence

East African Community Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohammed has expressed concern at Kenya's systematic regional isolation. The country must use its huge infrastructure projects to retain its hegemony, he said.

Kenya, the CS said, risks being pushed out of international trade by regional countries “who have decided to do their own things without involving us”.

“We are punching below our weight in transport and trade, and unless we do something urgently, we shall lose out badly,” Mr Mohammed said when he addressed the Senate Speaker’s Roundtable in Naivasha on Friday.

The roundtable is a platform that provides for structured engagements between the private sector and the Senate by facilitating a joint review of legislative matters that contribute to economic growth and development in Kenya.

LINKAGE

While the minister hailed projects being like the standard gauge railway (SGR) and Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset), he said they will not amount to anything if they do not provide the necessary connectivity to global trading routes.

“The SGR is a very good idea but terminating it in Naivasha will not help Kenya’s geostrategic interests,” he said in remarks he insisted were his own and did not reflect the position of the government.

“We need to think on our leverage and do it very quickly because if we don’t Kenya shall get itself out of business. Things are moving around us and the status quo mentality will not help,” he said.

Mr Mohammed said infrastructure linking the Horn of Africa states of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia are fast becoming strategic links connecting East Africa's emerging industrial and commercial hubs with Asia and the Middle East.

ENERGY

Ethiopia is leading in development of cross-border infrastructure in the region, and deepening ties with China and Gulf States, indicating the vital role that access to the ports in Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia will play in regional development and trade opportunities, particularly as Ethiopia evolves into a manufacturing powerhouse.

Ethiopia is also building the Grand Renaissance Dam, which on completion next year, will be Africa's biggest hydroelectric power plant.

The $4 billion dam will generate a massive 6,000 megawatts of electricity.

The CS regretted that Ethiopia is making connections with other countries in the region and not Kenya, warning that it portends danger for the country in international trade.

He questioned why Tanzania is determined to connect with the countries in Southern African Development Community (SADC), wondering whether it is an indication there is more trade in SADC member states than Kenya.
Uganda has similarly been looking toward its eastern neighbour, DR Congo, for its imports and one year ago the two countries agreed to remove non-tariff trade barriers in a bid to boost trade between them.
And while Kenya is credited with the birth of the South Sudan state, the CS reminded the audience that the beneficiary of peace dividends has been Uganda, something he attributed to lack of infrastructural connectivity between Nairobi and Juba.

COURT CASE

“Look at Somalia and its court case against Kenya,” he said, “The African Union voted Kenya as the continent’s sole candidate for the UN Security Council seat but Djibouti refused and is taking on Kenya. This says a lot about what is happening.”

The CS mentioned the Central Corridor that connects Tanzania with the rest of the world, and warned that Mombasa Port could suffer irreparably once the construction of the corridor is completed
From Dar es Salaam, the corridor runs inland, serving the Tanzanian hinterland, as well as landlocked Burundi and Rwanda, and the eastern part of DR Congo.

The corridor provides an alternative route to the Northern Corridor, which runs through Uganda and Kenya to the port of Mombasa.

The CS told the gathering that Kenya must extend the construction of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to the shores of Lake Victoria to open Kenya trade with Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern DR Congo.

For South Sudan, the CS wants a road connecting to Juba so that Kenyans can travel directly instead of going through Uganda.

He further proposed that a major road must be constructed to connect Lamu and Moyale in the north to make the LAPSSET project viable, saying that will provide an alternative transport and trading route to those in Southern Ethiopia.

For Kenya to reap the peace dividends in South Sudan, the CS said the Lodwar –Lokichogio-Nadapal-Juba Transport Corridor linking Nairobi to Juba must be completed.

“The more we dither the more it becomes difficult for our geostrategic interests. Interconnectivity is expensive but necessary.”