Sh162bn Naivasha SGR ill-advised, says Kimunya

National Assembly Majority leader Amos Kimunya has criticised Jubilee administration's Sh162 billion Nairobi-Naivasha SGR project, saying it was ill-advised.

Kimunya censured President Uhuru Kenyatta's flagship project, saying money was dumped in the infrastructure initiative.

“If you ask me, surely, I wouldn't have done the component from Nairobi to Naivasha, it is Sh160 billion, we could have put that money elsewhere,” Kimunya said.

The former Finance Minister warned that the country may not get any returns from the 120km railway. 

“There isn't any economic activity along that railway to guarantee returns in the foreseeable future,” Kimunya told Citizen TV on Tuesday night.

He was on an interview on the state of the economy and the government's interventions to revamp it.

In a rare rebuke of Uhuru's projects, Kimunya said there were many populist issues introduced into the Nairobi-Naivasha stretch that shot up its cost.

“I don't know what happened because I was not there, I wish I was there because I could have advised otherwise,” Kimunya said.

He went on: 'There are lots of populist issues that were brought in that are costing us and that increased the debt burden."

Former Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen, an ally of Deputy President William Ruto, said Kimunya's criticism meant that Uhuru was slowly becoming a lame duck.

"Amos Kimunya has criticised President’s SGR project to Naivasha calling it SGR to nowhere. He has also faulted the President for poorly thought-out electricity projects. Kang’ata and Kimunya’s behaviour can only signal one thing – the President is slowly becoming a lame duck," Murkomen tweeted.

But Kimunya clarified that officers in Uhuru's government and not the President made wrong decisions.

"That was a decision made by the government. Why blame the President, yet you are part of that government. Murkomen was part of the government, so was Ruto and the whole Cabinet," Kimunya said.

He added: "But every time when something goes wrong, the President is blamed, when it goes right, the DP. That is the sort of thing we were talking about."

Kimunya stressed that taxpayers will have to tighten their belts as government reduces commitments to some projects, especially those politically driven.

“The more you continue borrowing you have to suppress other expenditures because you have to repay; Kenyans would have to prepare for some belt-tightening,” he said.

The former minister said some prioritisation would have to be made to ensure key areas like manufacturing are supported to revamp the economy.

He dismissed Ruto's 'hustler economy' of wheelbarrows, saying the government will have to ensure proper priorities that will make money to trickle down to Kenyans.

Economic experts warned that Kenya was paying almost twice the actual cost of the project.

However, during the launch of the passenger railway on October 26, 2019, Uhuru lashed out at critics of the line, saying it had long-term benefits.

“Let me tell you, Mai Mahiu and Suswa is not 'nowhere'. This is Kenya. I know after 20 years Mai Mahiu and Suswa will be developed. We are clear in our vision and we are going somewhere,” the President said then.

He was reacting to claims that the expensive SGR line headed to 'nowhere' after its expansion to Western Kenya aborted.

Kenya will start repaying the SGR Naivasha line loan from the end of this month in addition to the current loan for the Nairobi-Mombasa line.

The loan from China’s Exim bank which amounts to Sh162 billion will increase the tax burden as the country is currently servicing the SGR loan for the Mombasa-Nairobi line which began in 2017.

“Kenya Nairobi-Naivasha Standard Gauge Railway Project loan to be repaid in 30 instalments from January 21, 2021, to July 21, 2035,” the Treasury had stated.

The loan repayments come at a time when the economy is grappling with the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic that has crippled sections of the economy.

(edited by o. owino)