Last week's trip by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga to China had nothing to do with borrowing of Sh368 billion for construction of SGR line from Naivasha to Kisumu, State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita has said.
Mr Raila Odinga was quoted last week saying that his trip to China with Uhuru was to negotiate on Sh368 billion for extension of SGR line. The Phase 2B is meant to be completed by August this year.
But the two leaders did not get an opportunity to sign any loan, with Waita now saying the media may have misquoted Mr Odinga, a close ally of the president in the current set-up.
“The Belt and Road Initiative is a multilateral event that involves over 60 heads of state and government. They came for a meeting as global leaders to discuss global interconnectivity of infrastructure to improve trade between east and west and south and north,” said Waita.
He added: “And just to put the practicality into context, there is no room for a meeting of more than 10 minutes between any head of state for a bilateral minute”.
According to him, Mr Odinga accompanied Uhuru as Africa's Infrastructure Development head. He was appointed to the position by AU last year. President Uhuru Kenyatta played an important role.
On Raila’s remarks and the China trip, Nzioka said: “The African Union High Representative on Infrastructure was there in his capacity as African Union High Representative and it is his job to advocate cross-continental infrastructure”.
“I think when Raila said what he said he meant the best for the country but the fact of the matter is it was not part of the agenda.”