07-13-2018, 11:10 PM
*** 14-Jul-18 World View -- China's railway contractor in Kenya accused of 'neo-colonialism, racism and blatant discrimination'
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** China's railway contractor in Kenya accused of 'neo-colonialism, racism and blatant discrimination'
****
Kenyan workers on Kenya railway line begin abused by Chinese masters
![[Image: g180713b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g180713b.jpg)
Chinese railway contractor punishes workers for refusing to do menial jobs that they were not hired to do (Standard Media, Kenya)
A series of reports in Kenyan newspapers being described as
"explosive" accuse the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which
is responsible for developing and operating Kenya's Special Gauge
Railway (SGR), of "neo-colonialism, racism and blatant discrimination"
towards Kenya workers. The SGR train is the Madaraka Express, which
operates between Kenya's Port of Mombasa and the capital city Nairobi.
Racism is rampant, to the point where the Chinese have apparently set
up an apartheid system. At the staff canteen, Kenyans may not sit at
the same tables as Chinese. Kenyans may not share the company's staff
vans used by the Chinese. All the signs are written in Chinese,
apparently with no translations available, to prevent the Kenyans from
doing many of the jobs.
Although Kenyan workers have at least civil engineering degrees, the
Chinese masters order them to perform only menial tasks, well below
their skill levels. If a Kenyan refuses to perform menial work as
ordered, he can be physically punished. Furthermore, when a Kenyan
and a Chinese employee perform the same job, the Chinese employee's
salary is four times as high.
There are 40 Kenyan locomotive drivers employed by the company, but
the Chinese do not actually let them drive the train. The Chinese are
supposed to be training Kenyans to do the technical jobs, but
according to one Kenyan driver who has been working at the company for
over a year, "We just sit at the back and watch. There is no actual
transfer of skills that is happening here."
Chinese workers blatantly violate the rules -- smoking inside
the trains, urinating on the tracks, and other violations that
are ignored for the Chinese workers but would immediately
get a Kenyan worker fired.
The Chinese contractor CRBC is apparently also guilty of corruption
and financial fraud. Some employees have also discovered that the
Chinese contractor has been reporting different figures to the Kenya
Revenue Authority for tax purposes.
Kenya's government have apparently sided with the Chinese contractor,
against the Kenyan workers, blaming the Kenyan workers for having a
poor work ethic. According to government spokesman Eric Kiraithe;
<QUOTE>"I am not saying any worker should be discriminated
and humiliated in the workplace but we must all appreciate that
the operation of a modern train is a profession that calls for
military standard discipline.
Inward-looking, haki yetu ["our rights" in Swahili] centered
personalities have no place in this kind of profession, not now or
in the future. They are the first crop of Kenyans employed on this
project and the culture they entrench will determine whether in
less than 10 years we shall depend on them."<END QUOTE>
The news reports have caused a major scandal in Kenya. Kenya
Railways, the agency mandated to supervise the Chinese operator of the
railway project said it was launching an investigation into the
claims, giving CRBC 72 hours to submit a report. Kenyans News and Shanghaiist and Standard Media (Kenya) and Nairobi Wire and Standard Media (Kenya)
****
**** Kenya may lose its Mombasa seaport to China because of 'Debt Book Diplomacy'
****
China is building infrastructure projects in many countries as part of
its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China does not build a project in
a country for free. It loans the money at harsh terms with high
interest rates. Furthermore, it demands that almost all of the work
be done by Chinese workers, who get paid out of the money that has
been loaned, so most of the money that China loans to the country is
returned to China in the form of remittances and payments for
services, but the country still has that debt, and has to repay the
same money to China again, with interest.
Theoretically, the Chinese workers are supposed to train the local
workers, and responsibility for the project is supposed to be turned
over to the country within a few years. But as we're seeing in the
case of Kenya's SGR, the Chinese masters are forcing the Kenyans into
menial jobs, are segregating themselves from the Kenyans, are
maintaining all signs in Chinese so that the Kenyans are not being
trained.
This is being called "Debt Book Diplomacy" (as opposed to "checkbook
diplomacy," which the US used to be accused of). The poster child for
how it works is the Port of Hambantota, a Chinese infrastructure
project in Sri Lanka, funded with a loan from China, with almost all
the labor performed by Chinese workers. Sri Lanka was unable to repay
the loan, and the government was forced to give the Port to China. So
now Sri Lanka has a large seaport owned by China, and a large Chinese
enclave with hundreds of Chinese families, with no benefit to itself
and to its own people.
Kenya has been going on a public borrowing binge. Kenya's public
debt is over $50 billion, including $4 billion in loans from
China for the SGR.
Theoretically, the Madaraka Express, the SGR train that operates
between the Port of Mombasa and the capital city Nairobi, is supposed
to pay for itself, just like Sri Lanka's Hambantota seaport. The
World Bank in 2013 warned Kenya that the railway project was a bad
deal, but Kenya went ahead with it anyway.
However, it now emerges that in the first year of operation, the
only managed to bring in $10 million in revenues, far short of
the fantasy amounts that were originally promised. Furthermore,
even that amount is dependent on the government forcing businesses
to use the railway, even when it's not the best choice.
According to David Shinn, a former diplomat and a professor of
international affairs at George Washington University:
<QUOTE>"Keep in mind that this is a loan from a Chinese
bank. A Chinese company by contract is required to build the
projects on an enormous amount of that loan money that’s going to
go straight into the pocket of a Chinese state-owned company. It’s
going to have a percentage of Chinese labor.
And most of the material that goes into the project will be
manufactured in China. So, Chinese companies are making a profit
on that. There are two or three wins for China, you know, [and]
one win for Kenya and Ethiopia, being that they get a railway
built that no other country is offering to build for
them."<END QUOTE>
Kenya is not able to make its debt payments in these circumstances.
Rumors are beginning to spread that Kenya will be forced to give up
the Mombasa seaport to the Chinese, just as Sri Lanka was forced to
give up the Hambantota seaport. The government is denying these
rumors, but has not explained how the debt will be paid. Soko Directory (Kenya) and Standard Media (Kenya) and VOA and Center for Global Development (4-Mar-2018)
Related Articles
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Kenya, Standard Gauge Railway, SGR,
Madaraka Express, Port of Mombasa, Nairobi, Kenya Railways,
China Road and Bridge Corporation, CRBC,
Eric Kiraithe, Belt and Road Initiative, BRI,
Debt Book Diplomacy, Sri Lanka, Port of Hambantota,
David Shinn
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- China's railway contractor in Kenya accused of 'neo-colonialism, racism and blatant discrimination'
- Kenya may lose its Mombasa seaport to China because of 'Debt Book Diplomacy'
****
**** China's railway contractor in Kenya accused of 'neo-colonialism, racism and blatant discrimination'
****
Kenyan workers on Kenya railway line begin abused by Chinese masters
Chinese railway contractor punishes workers for refusing to do menial jobs that they were not hired to do (Standard Media, Kenya)
A series of reports in Kenyan newspapers being described as
"explosive" accuse the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which
is responsible for developing and operating Kenya's Special Gauge
Railway (SGR), of "neo-colonialism, racism and blatant discrimination"
towards Kenya workers. The SGR train is the Madaraka Express, which
operates between Kenya's Port of Mombasa and the capital city Nairobi.
Racism is rampant, to the point where the Chinese have apparently set
up an apartheid system. At the staff canteen, Kenyans may not sit at
the same tables as Chinese. Kenyans may not share the company's staff
vans used by the Chinese. All the signs are written in Chinese,
apparently with no translations available, to prevent the Kenyans from
doing many of the jobs.
Although Kenyan workers have at least civil engineering degrees, the
Chinese masters order them to perform only menial tasks, well below
their skill levels. If a Kenyan refuses to perform menial work as
ordered, he can be physically punished. Furthermore, when a Kenyan
and a Chinese employee perform the same job, the Chinese employee's
salary is four times as high.
There are 40 Kenyan locomotive drivers employed by the company, but
the Chinese do not actually let them drive the train. The Chinese are
supposed to be training Kenyans to do the technical jobs, but
according to one Kenyan driver who has been working at the company for
over a year, "We just sit at the back and watch. There is no actual
transfer of skills that is happening here."
Chinese workers blatantly violate the rules -- smoking inside
the trains, urinating on the tracks, and other violations that
are ignored for the Chinese workers but would immediately
get a Kenyan worker fired.
The Chinese contractor CRBC is apparently also guilty of corruption
and financial fraud. Some employees have also discovered that the
Chinese contractor has been reporting different figures to the Kenya
Revenue Authority for tax purposes.
Kenya's government have apparently sided with the Chinese contractor,
against the Kenyan workers, blaming the Kenyan workers for having a
poor work ethic. According to government spokesman Eric Kiraithe;
<QUOTE>"I am not saying any worker should be discriminated
and humiliated in the workplace but we must all appreciate that
the operation of a modern train is a profession that calls for
military standard discipline.
Inward-looking, haki yetu ["our rights" in Swahili] centered
personalities have no place in this kind of profession, not now or
in the future. They are the first crop of Kenyans employed on this
project and the culture they entrench will determine whether in
less than 10 years we shall depend on them."<END QUOTE>
The news reports have caused a major scandal in Kenya. Kenya
Railways, the agency mandated to supervise the Chinese operator of the
railway project said it was launching an investigation into the
claims, giving CRBC 72 hours to submit a report. Kenyans News and Shanghaiist and Standard Media (Kenya) and Nairobi Wire and Standard Media (Kenya)
****
**** Kenya may lose its Mombasa seaport to China because of 'Debt Book Diplomacy'
****
China is building infrastructure projects in many countries as part of
its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China does not build a project in
a country for free. It loans the money at harsh terms with high
interest rates. Furthermore, it demands that almost all of the work
be done by Chinese workers, who get paid out of the money that has
been loaned, so most of the money that China loans to the country is
returned to China in the form of remittances and payments for
services, but the country still has that debt, and has to repay the
same money to China again, with interest.
Theoretically, the Chinese workers are supposed to train the local
workers, and responsibility for the project is supposed to be turned
over to the country within a few years. But as we're seeing in the
case of Kenya's SGR, the Chinese masters are forcing the Kenyans into
menial jobs, are segregating themselves from the Kenyans, are
maintaining all signs in Chinese so that the Kenyans are not being
trained.
This is being called "Debt Book Diplomacy" (as opposed to "checkbook
diplomacy," which the US used to be accused of). The poster child for
how it works is the Port of Hambantota, a Chinese infrastructure
project in Sri Lanka, funded with a loan from China, with almost all
the labor performed by Chinese workers. Sri Lanka was unable to repay
the loan, and the government was forced to give the Port to China. So
now Sri Lanka has a large seaport owned by China, and a large Chinese
enclave with hundreds of Chinese families, with no benefit to itself
and to its own people.
Kenya has been going on a public borrowing binge. Kenya's public
debt is over $50 billion, including $4 billion in loans from
China for the SGR.
Theoretically, the Madaraka Express, the SGR train that operates
between the Port of Mombasa and the capital city Nairobi, is supposed
to pay for itself, just like Sri Lanka's Hambantota seaport. The
World Bank in 2013 warned Kenya that the railway project was a bad
deal, but Kenya went ahead with it anyway.
However, it now emerges that in the first year of operation, the
only managed to bring in $10 million in revenues, far short of
the fantasy amounts that were originally promised. Furthermore,
even that amount is dependent on the government forcing businesses
to use the railway, even when it's not the best choice.
According to David Shinn, a former diplomat and a professor of
international affairs at George Washington University:
<QUOTE>"Keep in mind that this is a loan from a Chinese
bank. A Chinese company by contract is required to build the
projects on an enormous amount of that loan money that’s going to
go straight into the pocket of a Chinese state-owned company. It’s
going to have a percentage of Chinese labor.
And most of the material that goes into the project will be
manufactured in China. So, Chinese companies are making a profit
on that. There are two or three wins for China, you know, [and]
one win for Kenya and Ethiopia, being that they get a railway
built that no other country is offering to build for
them."<END QUOTE>
Kenya is not able to make its debt payments in these circumstances.
Rumors are beginning to spread that Kenya will be forced to give up
the Mombasa seaport to the Chinese, just as Sri Lanka was forced to
give up the Hambantota seaport. The government is denying these
rumors, but has not explained how the debt will be paid. Soko Directory (Kenya) and Standard Media (Kenya) and VOA and Center for Global Development (4-Mar-2018)
Related Articles
- African Cédric Bakambu joins China's Sinobo Guoan Football Club (04-Mar-2018)
- China-built railway in Kenya raises questions about 'debt trap diplomacy' (02-Jun-2017)
- Violent protests in Sri Lanka over China's takeover of Hambantota seaport (08-Jan-2017)
- Massive China-Pakistan CPEC energy project said to end energy crisis 'soon' (23-Mar-2017)
- Mahathir promises to reduce Malaysia's debt and China's influence (31-May-2018)
- Iran-India sign 'historic' Chabahar port deal to counter Pakistan-China (25-May-2016)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Kenya, Standard Gauge Railway, SGR,
Madaraka Express, Port of Mombasa, Nairobi, Kenya Railways,
China Road and Bridge Corporation, CRBC,
Eric Kiraithe, Belt and Road Initiative, BRI,
Debt Book Diplomacy, Sri Lanka, Port of Hambantota,
David Shinn
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
