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Does Kenya risk losing port to China?
Posted on: 19th Dec 2018
A section of the Mombasa Port (PHOTO: FILE)
NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya risks losing the port of Mombasa to China's Exim Bank should the government default on paying loans.
A letter by Auditor General to Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) reveals that
port's assets were charged as security to secure loans but KPA did not
disclose this guarantee in the financial statements.
Edward Ouko's office says that KPA assets are exposed since the
Authority signed agreement where it has been referred to as borrower
under clause 17.5 of the loan agreement and any proceedings against its
assets by the lender would not be protected by sovereign immunity.
"The agreement is biased since any non-performance or dispute with the
China Exim bank would be referred to arbitration in China, whose
fairness in resolving the disagreement may not be guaranteed," reads the
auditor's letter signed by F.T Kimani for the Auditor General.
SEE ALSO :Kenya to export agricultural products to China
"KPA did not disclose these guarantee in the financial statements," says the letter.
KPA's statements of profit and loss and other comprehensive income
reflected operating revenue of Sh42,736,520,000 being an increase of
Sh3,132,843,00 from Sh39,603,677,00 in the year ended June 30 last year.
Part of the letter to KPA from Auditor General's office
China tightened its grip on Kenya's economy, extending about Sh165 billion in loans last year, latest data shows.
SEE ALSO :US, China trade debates persist
This
saw the Asian giant stretch its lead as the country's largest bilateral
lender, with its debt stock increasing by 52.8 per cent to Sh478.6
billion in 2017, from Sh313.1 billion in 2016.
The world's second-largest economy now controls 66 per cent of Kenya's
total bilateral debt, which stood at Sh722.6 billion as at June 2017.
This rivals multinational institutions such as the World Bank and United
Nations, whose combined debt stock stood at Sh526.6 billion last year.
China's debt stock is almost certain to increase further this year as
construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) enters its second
phase, with Kenya said to have borrowed a further Sh165 billion for the
extension of the railway line from Nairobi to Naivasha.
Kenya, which spent over Sh440 billion on SGR from Mombasa to Nairobi, is
expected to pump a total of Sh1 trillion into the railway by the time
it terminates at the border town of Malaba.
SEE ALSO :The Uhuru-Raila 'secret' visits to China
"In
bilateral debt category, the stock of debt from the People's Republic
of China grew by 52.8 per cent to Sh478.6 billion, accounting for 12.1
per cent of the total national government's debt position," says the
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in its 2018 Economic Survey.
China's s debt to Kenya has increased more than seven times from Sh63
billion in 2013, overtaking Japan as the country's leading bilateral
lender to Kenya.
By 2010, China had lent Kenya Sh14 billion, trailing Japan (Sh62
billion), France (Sh28 billion), and Germany (Sh16 billion). Japan would
continue holding the pole position until 2013, when China deposed it.
The change was largely driven by China's increased interest in the
development of Kenya's infrastructure, with the game changer being the
construction of the SGR.
The new railway's financing pushed up China's debt stock from Sh252 billion in 2015 to Sh465 billion in 2016.
DAR ES SALAAM, East Africa: By Dr. Hernan Louise Verhofstadt* “ A BIT like President Donald Trump, Tanzania’s president, John Magufuli, likes to fire employees on television. In November Mr. Magufuli used a live broadcast from a small town in the north of the country summarily to dismiss two officials,” this is an extract from a recent online article I came across from the newspaper that I admired when I was growing up in Europe back in 1990’s; the Economist . Before I venture into other serious issues, the excerpts above contains gross factual errors; my own fact-check indicates that in the named public rally during the opening of Kagera Airport, there was no summary dismissal of the two officials instantly on television, as alleged. Instead, the two, one District Executive Directors for Bukoba Urban and another for Rural were relieved their duties later through a press release from President’s Office. This is my prima impressio reading the Economist this
By Masinde Masondore, Montreal, Canada, 01-04-2018: WHEN a learned politician brags of publicly embarrassing his President and counts it an honor while deliberately sabotages the nation's economic interests is a misfit in African traditions. 'Africans have had own ways of criticising the King, the way it happened in ancient Israel, however, in any case, the nation's interests were set apart from any sabotage," Gilbert Moshi. Tindu Lissu, a controversial Tanzanian opposition politician would be leaning on a wrong wall. He chose a road less travelled by learned individuals who mostly were rational. The road he walks and the philosophy he exhibit, only label him a tyranny of darkness. Any democratic leader, whether in opposition or ruling party ought to be totally enveloped in wisdom which prevents monumental errors of judgment. Lissu does not exhibit a minute of it. One of the pillars of customer-focused policies in the business world i
From: Concerned Tanzanian Citizen; To: WRI, WU, EU, International Press, USAID, US Gov, Tanzanian Diaspora; Date: 28 January, 2019 Dear all, Greetings from Tanzania- the land of Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, Ngorogoro, Zanzibar and above all, the land of great peace, transformation and reforms under President John Pombe Magufuli. I have leant that your various institutions will, in the course of this week and beyond, accommodate the opposition lawmaker from Tanzania, Tundu Lissu, to speak about diverse issues on politics in Tanzania. Unfortunately the power thirsty politician will not tell you all you need to know. In my first open letter to you, I will focus into 5 truths that this MP will hide to you, and in the second, I will dwell into major transformations happening in Tanzania, that again, MP Lissu cannot dare a mention to you. Attack on His Life and Ensuing Propaganda The MP will obviously reminisce on the unfortun
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