China’s development assistance to Kenya cannot be downplayed

Whenever a discussion on development and aid in Kenya comes up, it is highly unlikely that China will not feature. Analysts find it important to compare what China has done in relation to what other development partners have to offer. Despite the obvious grounds and motivation for this association, sophists tend to put China’s role and activities under the critical lens; however, in the face of differing views being projected by diverging interests, it is not difficult to weigh up and establish China’s critical role as the evidence is there for everyone to see.

Before China’s engagement with Kenya, traditional donors dispensed aid with political strings attached and conditions. Today, China gives unconditional aid not in form of money, but in form of infrastructural and social development that every Kenyan can see and feel. We are no longer talking about white elephants but grand projects never seen before in the country. This has not shielded Chinese aid from criticism based on historical experiences of aid money.

China gives us cheap and long term loans which reduce the pressure to pay, enabling the country achieve its development objectives. This too is being seen in terms of increasing our debt burden, forgetting that these are the same loans that Kenya and other African countries begged from the Brettonwoods institutions to fund our much needed infrastructural development.

A decade of engagement has helped Africa to develop and grow African economies by 20%, which more than 500 years of trade with the west could not. Kenya’ fast economic growth in recent years has been attributed to improved trade with and infrastructure development with China. China’s charm has been its ability to listen and consult on what is best for Kenya’s self development. During his trip in China, President Kenyatta asked for even greater cooperation with China to drive our most pressing needs. Discussions on new areas of investment mainly in infrastructure, energy and technology transfer were fruitful leading to the signing of agreements worth Sh425 billion with China.

This is the necessary capital that a country like Kenya needs to spur its economic growth. Just like in business, no country can invest big without sufficient capital and this is the path that developing countries like Kenya have to take. When the Asian giants were poor, they went through the same development path and they are now servicing their debts with ease. Having undergone the same process, China understands this concept hence its willingness to risk giving us such huge amounts of money as investment at very cheap interest rates compared to traditional lenders in the bretton woods institutions.

Meanwhile, the majority of China’s assistance is in government to government model by non-currency delivery. This protects the general populations from graft in government and ensures that the money is used for its intended purpose which is investment in infrastructure and development.  A successful investment ensures the country is able to pay back the loans without having to subject the citizens to higher taxes and a greater tax burden.

The best thing about China is the focus on concrete programs such as infrastructure, livelihood projects, education, healthcare etc, from which the people can see and feel and benefit directly. For instance, the new standard gauge railway linking the port of Mombasa and the border town of Malaba has employed over 25,000 youths from this country that apart from the income they will get, will also benefit a lot from the skills and technological knowhow from their Chinese counterparts.

It is impossible to downplay China’s significant contributions to Kenya’s economic and social development, especially the implementation of Vision 2030.  As for development, China shares much with Kenya in terms of concepts, goals and approaches.  Other development partners perceive Kenya as backward and underdeveloped, opting to instead dump outdated technologies no longer in use in their countries. Kenya Vision 2030 and the Chinese Dream have similarities that will bring both countries together to carry out common development, integrate our shared interests and combine the wishes and aspirations of both peoples. It is the shared tasks of both countries to create a bright future and fulfill common development dreams.

China has become Kenya’s largest source of financing, our largest construction project contractor and second-largest trade partner. Especially under the framework of Vision 2030, China and Kenya are working together closely in many fields, and have built or are building a number of flagship projects. These have greatly improved Kenya’s capacity of self-development and laid a solid foundation for Kenya’s future prosperity.

China is actively involved in the construction of roads, railways, airports and sea ports in the country. The Thika Superhighway is just an example of how much these kinds of infrastructure are critical to Kenya’s development. The road has opened up economic activity and development in areas along the road. Notable ones being Nakumatt Thika Road Mall (TRM), Garden City Mall, Naivas mall among others.

The Mombasa-Nairobi SGR, currently being built by China Road & Bridge, has been the largest infrastructure project since the independence of Kenya. It is expected to create more than 30,000 local jobs and lift Kenya’s GDP growth by 1.5%. When completed, it will have reduced the Mombasa-Nairobi transportation cost by about 40%, and will boost business along the railway and create numerous jobs.

The expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the construction of Greenfield Airport will remarkably improve Kenya’s aviation capacity, and further enhance Kenya’s unique position as the transportation hub in East Africa. The Chinese participation in the Mombasa Port and Lamu Port projects will help increase Kenya’s cargo throughput and promote its imports and exports. There are far more model projects like these, which have become success stories in Kenya’s households and the symbols of China-Kenya friendship.

In the field of energy, which is the lifeline for Kenya’s economic take-off and industrialization, China has provided financing assistance and asked Chinese companies to engage in related projects. The Olkaria 140-megawatt geothermal power station, which is the largest of its kind in Africa, has come into operation recently. PetroChina and Sinopec took part in this project, which has improved Kenya’s power generation capacity and reduced local electricity price by around 30%.

It is unimaginable where Kenya would be without Chinese support of the last decade. Kenya was on a steady downward slope in terms of economic development. The country was fraught with high unemployment rates coupled with massive layoffs, essential services were deteriorating at an alarming rate, our roads were impassable and economic activities were chocked with inefficiencies.Just as we were on the brink, came in the Chinese and Kenya witnessed development activities that they had long forgotten about. We began to see infrastructure development on a scale never seen before in this country. We began to see new roads, hospitals, schools, and new communication networks.

Whereas we are not in the business of comparing that has done more to Kenya in terms of development assistance and contribution, we must not downplay China’s critical role in our development and acknowledge that China is among the dominant players in our development quest and avoid being misled by geopolitical interests.