Former Kiambu county governor William Kabogo has now claimed that he prayed to God so that president Uhuru Kenyatta and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga could not secure a loan from China to fund the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to Kisumu.
Kabogo argued that Kenyans need money in their pockets but not a railway.
“It is better these people get food and fail to get a railway. The railway is not making sense,” Kabogo said at the Israel Assemblies of God in Molo, Nakuru County.
The government last week failed to secure Ksh. 368 billion from China to fund the extension of SGR from Naivasha to Kisumu. President Kenyatta instead secured Ksh. 67 billion which will be used on other 2 projects.
The projects include the Konza Data Centre and Smart Cities Project to be undertaken by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei at a cost of Shs 17.5 billion and the construction of the Nairobi JKIA to James Gichuru expressway on a PPP arrangement by the China Road and Bridge Corporation for Shs 50 billion.
The construction of the unique and modern expressway is expected to ease traffic flow on the busy Mombasa highway as part of the ongoing interventions by the Government to decongest key roads in Nairobi.
The expressway will be the first of its kind in Africa with unique design features that combine underpasses, overpasses, exits as well as a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) component covering the entire stretch.