KENYA AND CHINA OBOR

It's time to look into the situation of Kenya establishing new economic relationship with China.

One belt one road initiative is now into action in the region by developing infrastructures in Kenya financed by China. The Standard Gauge Rail has been constructed back few years ago,  and things show differently in Kenya. That instead of favorable advantage for this small country to prosper and benefit in the OBOR initiative, it seems that at this fresh start, Kenya is put at a losing position pushing the country into debts with China.

First of all, the disparity of the the two countries together can be viewed largely as a  railroading and undermining the opportunities and capabilities of Kenya to have equal opportunities in the OBOR. 

The loans are from Chinese owned state banks, and the contractors to built the projects only belongs to Chinese firms, and majority of the labor supply comes from them. By this effect, the employment opportunities are lost for the Kenyans under  the relationship of these two countries.

Forty percent of about 3,500 workers needed for construction will be foreign, mostly Chinese, according to a filing with the National Environment Management Authority, reported in local media this week. The rest of the jobs will go to locals.

That Chinese companies import labor from China rather than hire locally is a criticism echoed across Africa, but particularly strong in Kenya where youth unemployment is the highest in the region.

“A project that will bring all workers from China, save for a few hundred manual jobs,” one user wrote on Facebook in response to Amu Power’s filing. “All we will benefit from is the environmental degradation and health effects that will be with us for many generations,” he added.  

The worst thing about Kenya’s new power plant isn’t that Chinese workers are being brought in to build it

In this view, we can see that the situation is all favorable to China which sells the OBOR to some 65 countries, financing their infrastructures to over a trillion dollars facilitated by it's state owned banks, provide construction services and  supply labor, and so on, in a one way scheme favoring only China.

Noticeably, China finance, procure, and supply everything from materials into labor using their local Yuan currencies, yet the whole loan amount is then charged to Kenya by the US dollar. The disparity and inequality exist in the relation. 

That while in the start of the OBOR concept, it's infrastructure building, China can be seen as already gaining advantage and profits even before actual OBOR takes into action.

The problem of Kenya now is the piling debts with China that would eventually ruin their economy.

IS CHINA RAILROADING KENYA INTO DEBT?

What seems to be the case of OBOR is that no countries can win it for actual trading with China, seeing it as the FACTORY OF THE WORLD, countries like Kenya and many others, will find difficulty counter trading with her and sooner along the way, it's economy will be in pure  debt, that eventually will find the situation very difficult to escape.

What is the relation of this news piece and article to our own situation in the Philippines.?

In seeing Kenya, we can say that the Philippines is heading towards the same direction as it is there we find these two countries  Kenya and  Sri Lanka. 

They're already in serious debt trouble.

At the current, the Philippines is entering in an era where Kenya and Sri Lanka had also gone into. We have been seeking soft loans from China, under agreement of railway projects in Luzon financed by Chinese state owned banks, and subsequently, there's no doubt that it will be importing Chinese labor just like in the pattern of Kenya.

Now, to make the situation more complicated, China is given the opportunity to become our third Telco Player will substantially embed more the force of China in other channel of our security.  It seems we are not only duplicating the experiences of Sri Lanka and Kenya, but doing more trouble difficult  for ourselves.

The best way to do now for the Philippine is to avert the situation on depending so much from China. There are aplenty of ways that we can spur our economic growth without attaching ourselves to more foreign debts , as there are many ways to kill a chicken. 

We need to focus on manufacturing. Create better environment for our local and foreign investors, and make business in the country the fastest, easiest, and in most convenient manner to be more competitive with our Asian neighboring countries. 

Everything in economy is about competition for the business environment, otherwise there will be no hope that the country  will ever prosper.

Kenyan rail workers are protesting against their Chinese employer for a raise—to $5 a day