Friends of the Rail Forum

This week’s order by Kenyan President William Ruto to revert cargo clearing services to the port of Mombasa could upset China and Uganda, the port’s biggest clients, and trigger anxiety among major players who depend on it. The order, issued as President Ruto took office, is set to have far-reaching ramifications. The key question is what China’s reaction will be, given that Kenya must still meet its end of the bargain on the standard gauge railway (SGR) cargo operation numbers and debt repayments. But more importantly, will be whether port operations’ efficiency that has currently seen goods reach Uganda in a record four days after being offloaded at the Mombasa port will continue. The shortened time was due to the seamless systems that directly fed the SGR, and onwards to the Nairobi Inland Container depot and the Naivasha dry port...

- With President Ruto ordering operations back to Mombasa, the SGR depot is as good as dead if the directive is fully implemented – and so is the Kedong Valley dream.
- In essence, we have a new white elephant in town to maintain – in addition to the struggling KQ.
- If the cargo business shrinks, the losers will be taxpayers for they compensated for land that is not utilised and the land gamblers who spent a fortune on Muhotetu shares...

- The order is set to shake up the revenue performance of the standard gauge railway (SGR), shifting the cost of financing the Chinese loan used to build the line to the taxpayer.
- While Dr Ruto indicated that reverting the operations would restore thousands of jobs that were lost in Mombasa, the overall implication will be on taxpayers.
- A congested Mombasa port would mean revenue losses as traders turned to rival ports...