The Kenya Kwanza Alliance presidential candidate Dr. William Ruto has vowed to make public all contracts with Chinese government, including the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) if he wins the August 9 elections.
Dr. Ruto told Reuters that his government will deport all Chinese nationals working in Kenya illegally. The country’s second in command made promise as activists pressured courts to have the SGR contract made public.
A court ruling in May had ordered the State to provide two activists Khelef Khalifa and Ms Wanjiru Gikonyo with agreements relating to the Sh450 billion SGR project.
Justice John Mativo also issued an order declaring that failure by Attorney-General Paul Kihara, Transport and National Treasury Principal Secretaries to provide the information sought would amount to violation of the right to access to information.
Khalifa and Gikonyo wanted all contracts, agreements and studies relating to the construction and operations of the SGR made public. The activists argued that keeping the documents confidential is against the law and discourages transparency in governance.
But Transport PS Joseph Njoroge, in his affidavit filed in court argued that the agreements entered between the Kenyan government and Chinese contractors over the construction of SGR had non-disclosure clauses.
Dr Njoroge added that making the contract public would amount to breach of contractual terms of the agreements and so they could not supply the two activists with the documents related to the construction of the SGR line project.
“Upon receipt of request for information from the petitioners, Kenya Railways Corporation explained that the contracts of the projects to which information is being requested are between the governments of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Kenya,” Dr Njoroge said.
He further argued that granting the orders would injure relations between Kenya and China and halt successful implementation of the National Transport Policy.
The Attorney General Paul Kihara Kariuki told the court to throw out the petition arguing that Ms Gikonyo and Khalifa had not exhausted all means.
Dr Ruto who made the sentiments amid concerns over the huge public debt of Sh 9 trillion also vowed to cut government borrowing and wastages on non-priority projects.
“Kenya has the capacity to handle its debt situation. I do not intend to re-organise the debts should I win,” he said.
Data from the National Treasury shows that Kenya’s debts to China hit Sh797bn in May after it increased from Sh785.6 billion in April.
