By Ata Ukuta

When a Chinese firm demanded billions of shillings in pending bills that Kenya borrowed to build the so-called modern railway line from Mombasa to Nairobi recently before handing control of the infrastructure over to Kenya, I remembered what happened in Sri Lanka. According to Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) Chairman, Omudho Awita, Kenya started negotiations to regain control over some of the operations conducted by Afristar in 2019 under conditions that it would settle the debts owed to Afristar, a condition the Kenyan government has been unable to meet, and the Chinese is doing all behind the scene to prevent them from meeting their repayment target. Afristar manages the landing, offloading of cargo, ticketing, and payment systems. The Kenyan Parliament last year revealed that Kenya had not paid Sh 38 billion to Afristar, which is majority-owned by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and was contracted in May 2017 to run the passenger and cargo trains. The Chinese company contracted to run the train service, has listed clearing of its debts as a condition before fully transferring operations to Kenya in May 2022. The billions of shillings in pending bills add to the Sh 420 billion that Kenya borrowed to build the modern line from Mombasa to Nairobi and for the purchase of engines and coaches. The line, which started operations in 2017, was then linked with another new track, costing USD 1.5 billion and was funded by Chinese loans, to Naivasha. Aside from these pending payments, Kenya is obligated to honor repayment of the Sh 324 billion it borrowed for the project from the Exim Bank of China in May 2014 and started repaying last year after the expiry of the five-year grace period.

These happenings are replicated in many developing countries with Nigeria joining the list deeply under the Buhari administration. The railway lines to Buhari’s cousins in the Niger Republic and other Chinese financed projects are manmade disasters with the potentials of totally handing over our sovereignty to China. Beijing is one of Kenya’s biggest foreign creditors, having lent Sh 758 billion as of April 2021 to build rail lines, roads, and other infrastructure projects in the past decade. The country’s rising indebtedness to China is a recipe for economic slavery as China uses its debt diplomacy to entrap nations. Sri Lanka was forced to hand over control of the Hambantota port project to China for 99 years after it found itself under massive debt owed to Beijing. This allowed China control over a key port positioned at the doorstep of its regional rival India, and a strategic foothold along a key commercial and military waterway as reported by www.aninews.in.

In exchange for relief, China constructed its first military base in Djibouti. Whereas Angola is replaying multibillion-dollar debt to China with crude oil, creating major problems for its economy. Many Kenyans believe China’s real motive is to take control of the key port at Mombasa and gain another military and economic foothold like they did in Sri Lanka. With this information at the fingertips of Rotimi Amaechi and the handlers of Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria is still accumulating debt from China and is fast approaching what has been happening in Kenya and has happened in Sri Lanka. In July, many headlines from national dailies screamed “Fresh loan request pushes Nigeria’s public debt to over N35.5 trillion”; “Buhari gets Senate’s approval for N2.3tn foreign loan request”; “FG to fund N5.62tn deficit in 2022 budget with loans”; “Nigeria on debt precipice spent N1.8tn on debt servicing between January and May 2021”. Yet, nobody seems to be doing anything to stop this madness. Amaechi a lawyer who should know better is fast-forwarding our indebtedness to China. China plans to replace Africa’s former colonialist and the likes of Rotimi Amaechi for personal gains and illogical political relevance is acting as a catalyst. $7.4 billion of Zambia’s total $8.7 billion foreign debt is owed to China. It was reported in late 2018 that China was primed to take over the state electricity company, ZESCO, as a form of debt repayment since the country had defaulted. One of the biggest challenges is that Buhari does not care. He is a nomad and his nomadic consciousness prevents him from thinking about the consequences of his administration borrowing especially as a sizeable portion of these debts goes into the pockets of his kinsmen and cronies.

Ata Ukuta, Editor  – www.towncryyers.com