SGR to Kisumu is expanding the legacy project curse. The region has ten counties whose economies have collapsed fundamentally. Future of Kenya Foundation (FOK Foundation has examined The political economy of devolution; sadly the Railway to wherever is a tool of importation not economic turn around;
Migori’s economy depends on commerce/ trade, small scale agriculture, livestock from across in the Transmara, so are Kisii and Vihiga counties; Nyamira is large scale tea that bad fertilizer prices and dead roads have suffocated; jump to KK and the dead sugar sector same as Kisumu and Bungoma has precipitated big economic slump; unemployment is the biggest crisis across The Lake counties of Busia, Siaya, Kisumu and Homabay (Migori partly) which have stalled, decayed, stunted because there is no strategy to commercialize the Lake and six big rivers’ Blue economy to unlock potential. Counties should have focused on this investment but you know these five counties are the worst run in Kenya.
The Lunatic X (Kenya Uganda railway) was strategic for exporting raw materials out to Britain. On the contrary, This SGR curse is for speeding up imports into Kisumu/ Nyanza/ Western region from China, Turkey, Pakistan, Korea, India? Mtumba, TVs, Cars, electronics, plastics name it. SGR is for speeding up imports inland. That is Uhuru’s strategy for turning us into a huge consumer market for his and foreign goods. Then you do SGR for foreigners to speed up their trade by borrowing from China etc? And this is strategic? How?
