The Current Economic Cold War In Africa: China and Japan
During the Cold War, Africa felt the heat. During that time, the Western blocks and the Eastern blocks showed their supremacy not by fighting among themselves but by fighting for territory in Africa.
The blocks of that time fought for different ideologies in Africa; communism and capitalism. They also fought real wars in Africa. For instance, Western powers would go to Democratic Republic of Congo, arm a rebel group and the Eastern powers would also go in the same country and arm another rebel group or the government and the groups would fight. In real sense, it would not be that country fighting but Western powers and the Eastern powers fighting in black skins.
But times have now changed. The blocks are no longer fighting physically but economically. Though the blocks long disintegrated, the individual countries like the United States of America, Japan and China still hold the same ideologies and are pushing them hard in the developing world; Africa. The economic scramble for Africa by the developed world is at its top notch. There are three countries that seem to be more interested in Africa; United States of America, China and Japan.
For the first time in history, Japan seems to be more focused in Africa than ever before. The economically empowered nation, the second after China on the Asian side, held its first ever Tokyo International Conference on Development away from Japan. The conference was held in Nairobi Kenya and already, the goodies on the economic plate are visible. Japan and China seem to be engaged in an economic scramble for Africa and in this case Kenya.
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Japan’s Economic Activities in Kenya
Japan is more visible in Kenya than other brands from the Asian side all the way from vehicles to electronics. Comparing Japan and China, Japan is more trusted that China. Many people in Kenya consider products from China as substandard and ones that never last.
The presence of Japanese products in Kenya is not an issue but the number of projects that Japan is trying to fund in Kenya is the issue here. In the infrastructural side in Kenya, Japan is funding the construction of Ngong’ Road, rehabilitating the Port of Mombasa, investing in the Geothermal sector as well as investing in the water projects around the country.
Japan is more visible in Kenya through various projects that have been initiated under JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency.
To improve transport and infrastructure within Nairobi, the projects include:
- Strengthening of Capacity for Supervision and Operation on Road Maintenance Works through Contracting
- The Project for Dualling of Nairobi-Dagoreti Corner Road C60/C6
- Construction of Nairobi Missing Links No. 3, 6 & 7
For other infrastructural projects, JICA is taking part in:
- Mombasa Port Container Terminal Expansion Project
- Mombasa Port Area Road Development Project
- Capacity Building for the Customs Administrations of the Eastern African Region
JICA is also taking part in a program to strengthen the power supply capacity of Kenya through support to power plants and domestic transmission lines. It is also to strengthen international transmission lines to realize the Power Pooling Initiative in East Africa.
- Olkaria I Unit 4&5 Geothermal Power
- Sondu/Miriu Hydropower Project (Sang’oro Power Plant)
- Olkaria-Lessos- Kisumu Transmission Line Construction
- Establishment of Rural Electrification Model using Renewable Energy
- Capacity Development for Rural Electrification using Renewable Energy
On Sunday, a total of 73 Memorandum of Understanding had been signed between Kenya and Japan for Africa. In these MOUs, the government of Japan pledged one trillion shillings for such projects as infrastructure, ICT, Education, mining, agriculture among other sectors. An additional of three trillion shillings were to come from the Japanese private sector. A total of 22 companies from Japan signed the MOUs.
“The Government of Kenya is ready and willing to support partnerships that will ensure that our youth not only get quality jobs but our farmers can earn more from their sweat and at least 90% of their agricultural exports are processed locally,” said President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Read: First Phase of Expansion Work on Ngong Road Unveiled