It is a joke but according to media reports Deputy President William Ruto has vowed to reverse some of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s key standard gauge railway deals, if elected in the August 9 polls.
He accused some individuals he did not name of hijacking the project for personal interests.
“The SGR was meant to make the port much more efficient, better and improve business and fortunes of the people on the Coast. Unfortunately, some selfish people took hostage of the whole programme to benefit a few,” the DP said.
“We have made a commitment that we are going to undertake both administrative and legal steps to reverse what has become the biggest impoverishment of the people of Mombasa and Coast in its entirety.”
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I think it may help to get a few facts straight. The so-called dry ports in Nairobi and Naivasha have been hoisted by William Ruto and his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta as some of their great achievements.
William Ruto has been a choir leader in praise of their own invention, the SGR. What happened?
In terms of port services, you have to deal with the fact that huge income for the SGR comes from the movement of goods and merchandise across the country. Storage and who runs them are a big part of that equation.
If the ports can store what comes in and out of the port it provides a big source of funding for port services. How long that storage takes place how the Clearing and Forwarding system works as long as stuff is moving from the Mombasa across the country to Nairobi, Nakuru, Kericho down to the lake and vice versa we are going somewhere. At least by train.
Adongo Ogony is a Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
