Here’s what we need to do to stamp out this utter discrimination at SGR

The men and women who fought for the independence of Kenya were persons of integrity and character.

With rudimentary weapons in their hands, hearts of lions in their minds and imbued with rugged determination to succeed, they took on Great Britain, the empire on which the sun was never to set.

These men and women fought for us to be in charge of our resources and for us to be rid of British racism.

They took up arms and risked life and limb for us to reclaim our dignity. They buried their noses in the mud and undergrowth for our independence. In a word, they were maimed and killed for us to be free.

Alas, 55 years after independence; 55 years after the great and good of Kenya’s freedom struggle decisively battled the scourge of racism and kicked it into touch, the heirs to independence are dithering over Chinese racism. The Executive is blaming the victims of racism and apartness of failure to appreciate Chinese expertness.

GOOD TRAINS

Listen, Kenyans may not possess the expertness of the men of the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) or its parent company China Communications and Construction Company, but it is Kenya and Kenyans that are the hirers of the contractor and operator of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

Kenyans, through the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), enlist, supervise and pay the contractor or CRBC. Kenya or Kenyans through their government (GoK) funds the SGR.

Government makes the funds available through the Ministry of Transport which, in turn, passes the funds to KRC.

The money that has funded and is still funding SGR was loaned Kenyans by the Chinese. It is why Kenyans are the owners of the SGR and why CRBC is operating the railway and its popular passenger line, Madaraka Express, and the goods trains, on their behalf. Do you see the problem?

Blinded by expertness, the government does not see that there is a problem when the operator of SGR is accused by the citizenry of practising apartness.

MALICE

By this policy they are separated from the Chinese in terms of travel, accommodation and toilets and discriminated against in terms of pay and terms and conditions of service.

How do I tell the government not to turn a blind eye to this malice? Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart asked thus: “If a man comes into my house and defecates on the floor do I shut my eyes? No, I take a stick and break his head.” Okonkwo’s stick has been replaced by local and global laws. Local and global law forbid racism and discrimination.

But, as I pointed out last Sunday, if the Executive is not keen to take on the Chinese at SGR, then the twin Houses of Parliament must move to hold both the Executive and CRBC to account on behalf of the people of Kenya whom they represent and in whose interest they oversight the Executive. The problem is that Parliament, like the Executive before it, is bumbling.

DISCRIMINATION

According to Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, five parliamentary committees have written to the Ministry demanding that he appears before them to answer the same question.

MPs and Senators, as I argued last week, need to set up one ad hoc committee to get to the root of, and find the way to root out, racism and discrimination at SGR.

Summoning Cabinet Secretaries and KRC bosses does not constitute investigation. In any case the Executive has denied there is racism at SGR.

Here’s what an ad hoc parliamentary committee should do:

Hold sessions with the media house which broke the story of racism at SGR;
Independently interview Kenyan SGR senior and junior staffers separately from Mombasa to Narok;

WORK PERMITS

Hold sessions with those who have interviewed and qualified Chinese nationals for work permits; Interview trade unions;
Interview the junior and senior staffers of KRC, the Ministry and ultimately, respective Cabinet Secretaries;
Interrogate the application and adherence to Kenyan, Chinese and international law by CRBC and the Kenyan entities; and
Present an exhaustive report for a joint discussion by both Houses of Parliament.

Arise, Houses of Parliament! Koitalel arap Samoei, Elijah Masinde and Dedan Kimathi are turning, nay, spinning, in their graves. If ethnicity could drive implacable foes to the memorable March 9 handshake, racism should cause you to tell the Chinese to stuff their Renminbi.

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