by DAVID NDII
Kenyans go to elections on 8 August 2017 against the backdrop of empty promises by the government of Uhuru Kenyatta, widespread looting of state coffers, poverty and massive borrowing that has left the nation mired in debt. The future of Kenya is in the hands of a united Opposition.
Four years ago, the Jubilee administration mesmerised Kenyans with fantastic images of mega-infrastructure, bullet trains and space age airports, iconic stadiums, bewildering interchanges and blooming deserts.
All these were a pretext for an unprecedented borrowing spree, and plunder, plunder that beggars belief.
They borrowed US$4 billion (Sh415 billion) to build a 500km single-track railway with a maximum diesel-powered train speed of 120kph and 80kph for passenger and cargo trains, respectively.
For the same amount of money, Morocco has just completed Africa’s first high-speed rail, a 350 dual track railway (700km of rail) with a maximum speed of 320kph.
Upgrading the existing railway line would have achieved the same performance as the new Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) for a quarter of the cost.
The balance would have financed the new Lamu Port, a railway, a highway, and have enough left for one or two small projects.
Jubilee’s justification for the SGR was to decongest the Mombasa-Malaba highway.
Yet recently, the same administration has decided that it will transport crude oil from Turkana to Mombasa by road.
With two railways running parallel to each other, Jubilee is going to put more trucks on the road.
Why? Because trucking will put money in private pockets, pockets of powerful people.
These are the same vested interests that undermined Kenya Railways. The SGR has been set up to fail before it has been commissioned.
A big lie
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