- Kenyan govt shockingly allows Chinese racism against its citizens in revamped rail sector
- 2kshares
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- pomp and pageantry in May 2017 when Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta flagged off the Madaraka Express to launch the $3.8 billion China-funded Standard Gauge Railway that will shuttle 4000 tonnes of cargo and 1590 passengers between the coastal city of Mombasa to the capital Nairobi.
Little did the president and the country know that they were celebrating the sale of their liberty and dignity to the Chinese consortium China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which is managing the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) for ten years.
MORE ABOUT THISIt was all a sham when an eight-woman team was introduced to the public out of the 65 Kenyan and Chinese drivers as those who will take control of the locomotives. They were seen only once in their uniforms in the driver’s seat ahead of the launch and never again.
Thanks to an exposé by The Standard newspaper, the China-trained Kenyan drivers and general Kenyan employees were seen once again at the rear of the trains and at the rear of every department far from their Chinese counterparts.
Kenyans could not sit on the same tables with the Chinese at the staff restaurants, Kenyans could not join staff drop off vans if there is even only one Chinese on board and the Chinese are allowed to smoke and use mobile phones at work but Kenyans will be fired for the same act. These are some of the cases of discrimination some of the Kenyan staff told the newspaper.
“Racism is so real here. There is an unwritten rule of where you need to sit. You cannot just join the Chinese table… You cannot board a van that drops us in the evening even if there’s only one Chinese on board. You will have to wait,” an assistant locomotive driver said.
“They are chain smokers and they do it inside the driver’s cab. We do not have washrooms in the driver’s cab, so some relieve themselves on the track lines,” he added.
You seem to have a very limited understanding of what Kenya is trying to do. I don't know you as a poster, but you sound like one of these ridiculous uber TRL militants who boils everything down to race.
Nothing is going to be perfect in times of change especially when engaging with a country as foreign as China, but the proof is in the pudding. Kenya has been undergoing real substantial growth over the last decade. Kenya is finally getting the kind of investment dollars that can help build infrastructure and in turn attract more investment. More investments result in more jobs and higher wages which results in higher standard of living.
The strategy in place has been working. In 2016 Kenya became a lower middle income country based on GNI. It is no longer classified as a poor country and it is now the 9th largest economy in Africa, despite not having any substantial natural resources.
The GNI has more than doubled from 1660 to 3250 over the last 20 years.
The country's medium term goals is to increase manufacturing from 9% of GDP to 15% and turn the country into a net food exporter. To reach these goals, you need investments greater than what can be generated from domestically. Banks in the west charge higher interest rates because they see lower middle income countries as more risky, but China is willing to take that risk.
So, why not engage with China in a thoughtful way?
Some of you Coli militant nikkas need to stop looking at race as the end all be all of every analysis.
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) and is to be deported.
This whole time my ignant self thought that dude was making a stand for a far more consequential and noble issue.
Geez
