Opposition leader Raila Odinga has been under attack by Kenyans who have now branded him a traitor since his decision to board the plane with President Uhuru Kenyatta to secure another overburdening loan in China.
The two have traveled to China to secure Sh368 billion for the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
In Beijing, when President Kenyatta and his Chinese hosts sit to discuss details of the financing,
Mr Odinga was for a long time one of the harshest critics of the financing model of President Kenyatta’s pet project, saying in various forums that the President’s borrowing spree was akin to mortgaging Kenya to China.
Accusing President Kenyatta’s government of corruption, Mr Odinga said the cost of the Mombasa-Nairobi line was exaggerated and could have cost less.
And when the President launched construction of the line from Nairobi to Naivasha, the opposition leader claimed it was all for the benefit of members of the first family.
In June 2014, Mr Odinga wrote to the President lamenting that the SGR project, “which is a key and vital development in the expansion and modernisation of Kenya’s infrastructure, has raised serious credibility concerns”.
He said the project should have cost Sh227 billion but was inflated to Sh327 billion by the Jubilee administration. “We know the people responsible,” he warned, “and it is not the Chinese”.
But now, as he basks in the glory of his March 2018 deal with
