Is Kenya Being Auctioned By The Jubilee Administration?

Kenya To Give China Stake in new geothermal firm to cover Sh100 billion debt.

The statement above was one of the headlines in the business section in one of the local dailies in Kenya that has left many like-minded beings wondering.

The headline above was brought to my attention by one Steve Biko wafula, an economic analyst who tweeted Kenya is being auctioned by the Jubilee administration to the Chinese. Our new colonial masters?

Mr. Biko’s worries and concerns are shared across the country with many Kenyans asking themselves whether we shall ever free our country from the ever-growing debt especially from China.

As the issues about Kenya giving China a stake in the new geothermal firm as part of covering a debt of 100 billion shillings emerge at a snail’s pace, it has emerged that a Chinese contractor by the name Great Wall Drilling Company has signed a secret memorandum of understanding by the Kenyan government to drill a total of 80 geothermal wells with funding coming from the Chinese Exim Bank.

According to The EastAfrican Newspaper, the Kenyan officials who took part in the deal have been downplaying the issue saying that the MOU is not the same as a commitment but sources say that the deal has already been sealed. According to the piece, the deal has exposed the dubious ways Chinese firms use to pocket multimillion-dollar deals in Kenya as compared to their counterparts from the Western world. It is said that each well will cost five million dollars meaning that the contractor will fly back to Shanghai with 400 million dollars.

The secret deals between Kenya and Chinese firms revive memories of the rumors that the contagious Migingo Island at the heart of Lake Victoria had been sold to Uganda by the government of Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki. The rumor has since died but the island is still under conflict from both Uganda and Kenya.

The questions many Kenyans are asking are:

• Is Kenya driving on the wheels of debts?
• Are our leaders auctioning our beloved country to pay debts for the money that even Kenyans don’t get to know about?
• Why is China so keen in giving loans to Kenya and not grants?

When the National Treasury announced the national budget during the month of June this year, it emerged that the budget was in deficit of more than 700 billion shillings. This was even a report showed that Kenya loses a half of its budget through corruption with little effort being done by the government to tame corruption in the country.

The 700 billion shillings that the budget was in deficit of, were, according to Cabinet Secretary for Treasury Dr. Henry Rotich, to be borrowed both locally and internationally and in a period of six months, the government had already borrowed 226 billion shillings. The government says that the borrowed monies are to finance projects that would help project the economy positively as well as help repay the loans. But, with the kind of looting of public funds going on within and without the government, will these said projects generate the needed money to repay the loans? What are the said projects in the first place? Are we borrowing money without any priorities and, in the process, giving looters a chance to milk the country dry? There are no answers to these questions.

According to government, there are four projects that are to be implemented and will account for 124 billion shillings of the borrowed money with 60.8 billion shillings borrowed from China Development Bank being set to finance infrastructural projects in the country. 40 billion shillings were borrowed from Japan Bank meant to finance geothermal projects in the country, 23.1 billion shillings from Africa Development Bank meant to construct the Sirari Corridor while 20.3 billion shillings’ loan facility given to Kenya Airways with the Government of Kenya as a guarantor.

Is Kenya so broke that she will always be thriving on borrowing?

Why is the government focusing on borrowing and not investing in local factories so as to get funds from them?

How sure are we that borrowing money and investing it into roads will give back the money to repay the loans?

Is the money borrowed benefiting Kenyans or just a few individuals in the country?

Kenya Airways is still ailing, trying to come out of the woods. Mumias Sugar Company is still in a financial coma with little hopes of coming back to life, Pan Paper in Webuye has since been sold to a private investor though politicians are still saying it is still under the government, the retail sector is in turmoil with Uchumi being in the Intensive Care Unit and Nakumatt fast approaching the ground. What plans does the government has in reviving the economy apart from borrowing?