National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei has given some information on the Standard Gauge Railway contract that was recently made public.
Speaking during an interview on Monday, Shollei said she went through the details and was specifically looking at the dispute resolution part.
She said a part of the contract read that the SGR dispute will take place in Beijing and Chinese Law will be used.
“I just scanned through it and I haven't read it in great detail but as a lawyer, the first thing you check is if there is a dispute, where do you go to? It has shown the dispute will be resolved in Beijing and will apply Chinese law. It is quite skewed against Kenya,” she said.
Shollei said she was glad the contract was made public as it will allow public participation.
“I'm glad it has been made public then it can allow Kenyans to interrogate it, re-look at it and be able to know that Kenya has a right to declare a dispute and have it re-written,” she said.
“It also informs future agreement hence the reason why it is very important to make agreements public when agreements are made public, there is public participation.”
The Uasin Gishu Woman Representative questioned why Chinese Law should be used and not Kenyan law yet Kenya's law is capable of disputing conflicts.
“When there is public participation we can say no, why Chinese law, and not Kenyan law, why is the venue for the dispute Beijing and not in Kenya,” she said.
She applauded Roads Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Public Works Kipchumba Murkomen for making the contract public.
