Looking East
Nairobi--Many analysts have however argued that political relationships can be changed just like that but not structural economic institutions governed by markets such as those between African countries and former colonial powers. Is Kenya capable of ditching her traditional Western traditional allies in favour of the East?
That is the debate that has preoccupied Kenyan foreign policy watchers since president Mwai Kibaki and his National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) took power three years ago, as the government increasingly warms up to China. What started as an innocent exchange between former British Ambassador to Kenya, Mr Edward Clay, and a few powerful members of the cabinet over allegations of official corruption, has instead revealed a simmering diplomatic chasm between Kenya and her Western traditional allies—the UK and the US.
While government officials maintain that the new Kenyan government is basically interested in tapping the many economic opportunities that China represents as the fastest growing economy, analyst argue that it could not have been a coincident for senior ministers to engage in a public row with the representative of the former colonial master, at time when the Kenya-China relationship is blossoming. Apparently, some senior ministers known to be close to president Kibaki, were not shy to attribute former British High Commissioner to Kenya Sir Edward Clay's much publicised allegations of high-level corruption in the government, to the sulking by the British for losing some lucrative contracts they have controlled for four decades, to Chinese companies among others from the East.
On taking over power from Kanu—that had ruled Kenya for 40 years—the NARC government later quietly embarked on a “Look East Policy” that lays emphasis on improved relations with countries from the East. Top officials of the new government had from the onset openly declared that they shall go East if UK and US-the traditional allies keep on lecturing the government on corruption. Apparently, Beijing , unlike the West, does not ask many questions in relation to governance. One major area of conflict between the Kibaki government and the Western powers has been the issue of corruption, in which they consider the current government of paying lip service to the war on graft.
In particular, the Chinese choice of partners and its diplomatic philosophy, which preaches non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs has been very attractive to the Kibaki government, given that Western powers have become disillusioned after the government failed to stick to its timetable of economic and political reforms.
President Kibaki's ascendency to power saw the fast-tracking of the Sino-Kenya relations, that saw him visit China last August—the first official visit to China by a Kenyan head of state in 11 years— where the two countries signed an economic cooperation agreement which secured over Ksh 2 billion ($27 million) in aid and grants to Kenya for expanding electricity supply.
While direct foreign investment from the West to Kenya is declining as the focus shifts to the new Sudan, Kenya’s fixation with the traditional European tourism market has been jolted by the negative travel advisories issued by the UK and the US to its citizens over what they perceive as the existence of terrorism cells in Kenya. Besides negative travel advisories, the US has excluded Kenya from the Millennium Challenge Account, that is rewarded to African countries that have made major leaps in the area of good governance. Kenya, with the coming of NARC government amidst hopes for better governance had been hoping to benefit from the account for the direct benefit of the poor. China then comes to the rescue, Since 2002, trade between China and Kenya has shot up by 46%, mainly due to Kenyan imports from China, raising exports to the countries of East African region to about $7.5 billion. The trade, though, stands in favour of China. Kenyan imported Ksh 13 billion ($ 1.8 billion) worth of goods from China last year, while Kenya exported Ksh 903 million ( $12 million) worth of goods, mainly black tea, coffee and leather goods. As it were, the Kibaki government, although not stated as official policy, seem bent on breaking what has always been perceived by the previous government as Western condescending attitude and lectures on human rights and democracy. It did not help matters for the Kenya-West relations, when the former Transport minister, Dr Chris Murungaru—a key mover in president Kibaki's inner circle—was banned from visiting both US and UK, due to alleged involvement in grand corruption. The move was interpreted by observers as sign of deteriorating relations, while to Kibaki's coterie, it was revenge-driven and an attempt to hit at the president's soft inner belly.
Dr Murungaru, for instance, categorically claimed that attacks against the Kenya government over official corruption and his subsequent ban from visiting US and UK, arose from the "Changing fortunes of British contractors who once dominated the lucrative defence and security contracts, but whose monopoly has been shattered following the government's decision to allow competition from companies from the East". Dr Murungaru, further noted that the new government's decision to woo investors from the East was inevitable because traditional investors from the West were shying away from Kenya. He lamented that Kenya had been over-reliant on donor support and investors from the West.
This is a departure from the approach of the former president, Daniel arap Moi, who, despite his poor record on human rights in the Western capitals, retained close ties with the UK through lucrative contracts some of which date back to independence in 1963. The UK paid back by engaging in what they termed as “silent diplomacy”, even at a time when other Western countries were screaming their heads off over human rights abuse and cutting bilateral aid. There have been talks that Kenya could follow Robert Mugabe, who has fully embraced China after being ostracised by the West. This is mainly because, Kenya, being a strong ally of the West during the entire Cold War period, ensured that China was locked out from any meaningful relationship with Kenya since independence in 1963.
However, according to assistant minister for foreign affairs, Mr Moses Wetangula, Kenya has no intention of abandoning her traditional allies in favour of the newly-found China/Kenya friendship. He argued that the relationship between Kenya and UK goes back to the days of Imperial East African Company (IBEA) — the precursor to the British colonial rule— and cannot be determined by one individual. “Everybody knows that the Eastern Tigers—China, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand—have become increasingly important players in international economy.
Everybody is dying to have Chinese economic cake, Kenya included. We are just adding on to the list of important partners and the move is not as a result of any gap on with relations with the West," He continued, "We are just waking up to reality of new momentum that China is the fastest growing economy in the world, and recently overtook US as the largest consumer of raw materials, thus Kenya cannot be left out of the opportunity. It would be a mistake for anybody to think that our relationship with the East is in place of the West, it is simply in addition” Mr Wetangula might not be too of the mark. An increasing number of African countries are aware of the economic stakes of tourism from China.
China, is attracted by its oil and other raw materials, has just granted eight African countries the status of “approved tourism destination country” for its citizens. Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Seychelles, Tunisia and Zambia, are the beneficiaries. Before, South Africa, Egypt and Morocco were the only authorised tourist destinations for the Chinese citizens in Africa.
But even as the government officials insist that Kenya has never contemplated a fundamental shift of policy against the West, previous pronouncements by Dr Chris Murungaru—who has since been sacked as a result of concerted pressure from foreign missions in Kenya— tells a different story. He accused Britain of not only taking advantage of the then political environment to benefit from lopsided procurement procedures, but that Mr Clay only had issues with contracts that Britain had for years monopolised. “The main reason for this dominance had nothing to do with Britain offering the best bargain in terms of quality or price. It was just because of British long history of association with Kenya. But since NARC came to power, Britain has not had things its direction," he gloated.
True to his words, five British firms involved in multi-billion shilling contracts lost business in the past two years to competition from China, Japan, Spain, Russia and France, unlike during Moi’s time, when British firms were the favourite contractors for department of defence and often got lucrative contracts without competition. For instance, De La Rue, the security-printing firm from Britain has printed Kenya’s currency since independence without competition, but now the government has given indications that it is prepared to invite other printers to bid.
On the other hand, Chinese companies are having a ball, besides the fact that Chinese goods—previously shunned for being counterfeit—are fast replacing Indian goods in downtown Nairobi. So far, some 50 companies have invested in 96 projects valued at Ksh 4 billion ($54 million), while at the last Nairobi Trade Fair in September, Chinese companies comprised the majority of the exhibitors.
To, China, Kenya is their gateway to the emerging markets of Somalia and Southern Sudan and other regional countries such as Uganda and Rwanda. China has always had a close relation with the neighbouring Tanzania that took a socialist approach from independence in 1961, till 1985 when the late former president, Julius Nyerere, conceded that his Ujamaa had failed.
Besides establishing a China Trade Centre in the up-market outskirts of Nairobi, China continues to supply high-tech telecommunications equipment that are cheaper compared to their Western competitors. Recently, a Chinese company established a $3 million factory to produce concrete poles at a time when campaign against deforestation is threatening the timber industry.
During his visit to China in August, president Kibaki witnessed the signing of an agreement that will allow Huawei Technology company of Shenzhen to provide wireless communication link to all government divisional offices that used to be taken by UK companies.
The Chinese assistance to date is more than Ksh 8 billion ($109 million) in the areas of health, infrastructure, energy and education. Over 10 ministers in the Kibaki government have visited China in the last three years bringing with them deals on tourism, ICT, economic and technical cooperation.