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KENYA NEWS:SENATOR MUTULA KILONZO CLAIMS KENYA IS BEING SOLD TO CHINESE SLOWLY

Kenya news: Senator Mutula Kilonzo claims Kenya is being sold to Chinese slowly

- The senator argued that Kenyans are losing out on jobs.

- He questioned why foreigners were allowed to do jobs that local citizens are able to do.

- He argued that the money used to maintain the SGR is a lot.

- He pointed out the fact that the project is being constructed by the same people who advanced Kenya a loan to start the project.

The Senator for Makueni, Hon Mutula Kilonzo, has major concerns with how the government is dealing with China. He did not mince his words as he stated that Kenya is on the verge of becoming a “colony of the Chinese”. According to him, this is mainly caused by the approach the government is taking when dealing with the Asian country by awarding them projects worth billions of shillings and at the same time allowing them to finance the project through loans that they advance to the government.

On July 11th during a Senate session Hon Mutula questioned the work the Chinese national are doing in the country. He pointed out the fact that the Chinese nationals who are working in the country are doing jobs that have not been stipulated in their work permits and that the jobs they are assigned can be done by other Kenyans. He gave an example of a Chinese manning a gate in Kenya regardless of the fact that there are a lot of unemployed people in Kenya.

Mutula argues that the SGR project has become a burden to Kenyans. He retaliated the fact that Kenya owed a huge debt to China, standing at 66% of the total debt Kenya owes, but still uses that money to pay remuneration to Chinese workers who are doing jobs that can be given to Kenyans. In addition to this, the Senator also argued that the SGR has brought with it destruction. He put forth allegations that the project was responsible for the flooding at Sultan Hamud because of the alleged blockage of the waterways by the contractors. He also stated that the SGR disrupted education in one of the schools in his County, Makueni, by dividing the school into two during the construction. What was even worse is that he claimed the contractors adamantly refused to repair the school.

The Standard Gauge Railway has been the spotlight for all the wrong reasons in the resent past and it is understood that this was the reason why the senator became critical of the project.

Tuko - Kenya today obtained reports that suggested that the government parted with 3.5 billion Kenyan shillings in 2014 before the project even commenced. There was a “Pre-Operations Phase Services Payment” 1.3 Kenyan shilling billion that was also paid by the government. The money was paid to the China Road and Bridge Corporation.

It is understood that the running of the Ksh320 billion Standard Gauge Railway every month costs the government Ksh1 billion. The money is paid to the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).

People have argued that the SGR is not giving back to the tax payers their monies worth. David Ndii, and economist and a vocal critic of the project argue that the project will not be of economic benefit and also it will be unsustainable. Others are questioning on how exactly the Kenyan government is planning on repaying the 320 billion that was spent in the construction of the SGR railway.

Apart from the economic side, there is also a social problem that came with the project. The CRBC has been accused of racism. Kenyan workers have allegedly been discriminated, threatened, tortured and harassed by their Chinese counterparts. The Kenyans are subjected to long working hours with low wages. At one time the media reported that even Kenyans sharing tables with the Chinese was prohibited. The Chinese vans are allegedly not to be used by Kenyan workers during morning and evening hours when drop-offs and pick-ups happen.

The allegations prompted the Labour Cabinet Secretary, Ukur Yatani, to launch investigations after the allegations were made public. The team to lead the probe constituted high level officials of the ministry to take over the investigations.  

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