Anxiety in Raila camp over lost SGR deal

Opposition chief Raila Odinga’s camp is increasingly uneasy over the failed extension of the standard gauge railway from Naivasha to Kisumu.
 

The completion of Kenya's largest and most expensive infrastructure project had been billed as Nyanza region's economic game changer.

But the failure to get a Sh368 billion Chinese loan to extend the line has caused disquiet among Raila's supporters.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila, the AU's High Representative for Infrastructure went to China specifically to request the loan to complete the line.

But China said no and instead offered a much smaller loan of Sh400 million to upgrade the existing, 120-year-old railway line to Kisumu. It would connect to the SGR in Naivasha.

China was said to be imposing difficult conditions to extend the SGR; it is said to have wanted more proof of viability. SGR lost Sh10 billion in its first year.

Kenya also wanted relaxed loan terms and a grant. It got money for other projects instead.

Interviews with MPs and opinion leaders from Raila's backyard painted a picture of a disillusionment and a feeling they were shortchanged by the Jubilee administration.

"Let the government find money from elsewhere to complete the railway from Naivasha to Kisumu. The lakeside city should not be isolated from the multi-billion project," Kenya Sugarcane Growers Association Secretary General Richard Ogendo told the Star.

The Star has established that the apparent camaraderie by Raila's allies in the aftermath of the SGR deal failure is a facade; beneath they are seething with rage.

The new development has made Nyanza residents sceptical that the handshake dividends hyped by Raila after his truce with Uhuru last year could be a pipe dream.

Luo Nyanza has been grappling with marginalisation since Independence. This alienation was captured in the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Report (TJRC) that the State has failed to implement.

"The Commission (TJRC) takes the view that while Luo personalities served in President Moi’s administration, the co-option of these elites did not necessarily translate into economic inclusion in a broad sense," the 2013 report read.

Initially, there were murmurs of a silent push for the SGR to snake its way to Uganda through Eldoret.

Already the construction of a lake port had been planned on Lake Victoria in Usare Village to boost trade with Kenya’s neighbours.

The port would have also opened up the movement of goods through Port Bell in Uganda, Tanzania’s Mwanza Port with South Sudan via Jinja Port and Rwanda via Kimondo Bay.

Then there is or was the anticipated generous compensation to landowners running into billions of shillings.

Before his departure for China, Raila had confidently announced that the new SGR line would unlock Nyanza’s untapped economic potential.

He told his supporters that the China trip was crucial in securing the loan.

“I will be part of the delegation that will accompany the President to the Asian country next week. The new SGR line will extend from Naivasha to Narok, Bomet, Sondu and finally Kisumu," the former Prime Minister said. 

The opposition leader had made a dramatic U-turn from being a fierce critic of the SGR to a staunch defender after the handshake with Uhuru on March 9 last year.

On April 20, shortly before the China trip, Raila spoke glowingly of SGR dividends in Nyakach, Kisumu county. He spoke in the vernacular.

He said the project would ease trade within the East Africa region through the revival of the Kisumu inland port.

But the government now says it will renovate the old railway line, instead of building a new one.

Questions are now being asked why renovation of the old line was not done right from Mombasa in the first place, instead of going for the SGR.

"It is Raila himself who told us that his handshake with Uhuru would bring development to our region that has economically been marginalised for many years," an ODM MP protested. He declined to be quoted for fear of being seen as fighting the handshake.

Raila quietly returned to the country on Tuesday while unconfirmed reports indicate his 'brother President Kenyatta returned a day later on Wednesday night.

Uriri MP Mark Nyamita said the government should swiftly find alternative funding for final Naivasha-Kisumu SGR link.

“The SGR from Mombasa to Naivasha is built by taxpayers’ money. It does not make economic sense if the railway ends in Naivasha. It must reach Kisumu as we were promised. Our people are eager for this project,” Nyamita told the Star

He added, “The SGR will be more viable if it is completed as had been planned. Kisumu remains the business hub in the East Africa Community.”

Homa Bay Woman Representative Gladys Wanga confirmed there is anxiety in the region over the project but expressed confidence that all is not lost.

“It is good that the government has announced its intention to rehabilitate the old metre railway. That is welcome because it will serve as an alternative to the SGR,” Wanga said.

The state, in a face-saving about-turn, now claims securing the Sh368 billion loan for the third phase of the SGR project was really not on its agenda.

However, the government had hyped the Beijing Belt and Road forum and its benefits. In the run-up to the China trip, it hosted Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Uganda had been offered a plot at the proposed Naivasha dry port.

Uganda's endorsement of the project was said to have been part of China's conditions to lending Kenya the Sh368 billion.

The SGR line to Kisumu was expected to ease the movement of goods and people to and from Uganda and other landlocked countries. Uganda is Kenya's largest trading partner in the region.

However, news about the uncertainty of the 270km line has sparked jitters in the region which had pinned its economic hopes on the Uhuru-Raila handshake.

Yesterday some MPs from Nyanza accused the government of perpetuating the region's marginalisation. Others saw the move as a scheme to sabotage Raila.

Some Nyanza leaders want the old railway rehabilitated as the government seeks funding from elsewhere to build the SGR to the lakeside city.

Tongaren MP Eseli Simiyu said the project was a sham from the word go, saying it had also isolated the Luyha nation.

“It is important that when we make some decisions we look at the country as a whole. Why is the government taking my taxes where I will not benefit but only make me poorer," asked the Ford Kenya secretary general.

“The whole project right from Mombasa was a waste of public money and we would have done better to rehabilitate and revamp the meter railway.”

ODM Chairman John Mbadi denied that the SGR deal had flopped. He blamed unnamed people for creating a narrative that Kenya’s delegation to Beijing went there to sign a big SGR loan.

“Some people actually blew this thing out of proportion. The accurate information which we have is that loan was never part of negotiations in China,” the Suba South MP said.

 Mbadi maintained that the government must extend the SGR from Naivasha to Kisumu if the project is to be viable.

‘It is something that the government must consider,” the National Assembly Minority leader said of the need to ensure that the SGR reaches the lakeside city.

Kisumu West MP Olago Oluoch said the SGR would open up Kisumu as the regional economic hub and urged the government not to abandon it.

“We have the old railway line that should also be revamped. It will save the government a lot of money,” he said.

The lawmaker said that a robust railway network linking Kisumu--Mombasa to the rest of East Africa would greatly enhance trade in the region.

“We are not privy to the SGR discussion. We will give our position on the railway project once we get details from Uhuru and Raila,” he said.