A meeting between Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet and Chinese ambassador to Kenya Sun Baohung on Tuesday rubbed a section of netizens the wrong way.
Coming barely two days after a shocking report emerged detailing alleged cases of blatant racism by Chinese workers towards Kenyan staff on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), many linked the meeting to the exposé that sparked a serious uproar.
The investigative report by Standard also laid bare how at least seven wild animals including 2 lions and 5 buffaloes had been run over by trains passing through the Tsavo National Park.
Kenyans reacting to Boinnet's meeting with Baohung questioned whether any of the accusations had come up in the discussions and sought to find out what action the police planned to take on the implicated Chinese officials.
When contacted by Kenyans.co.ke, both the Police Service and the Chinese Embassy were unavailable for comment on whether the SGR revelations featured in the meeting by the time of going to press.
[caption caption="IG Joseph Boinnet with Chinese Ambassador Sun Baohung on 10/07/2018"]
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"Her Excellency Mme. Sun Baohong, China’s Ambassador to Kenya paid IG .@Jboinnet a courtesy call this morning.
"The envoy appreciated the efforts made by the government in deepening diplomatic relations between our two nations in matters of policing," the National Police Service captioned images from the meeting on their social media pages.
"Instead of giving us this fake smile and poor PR moves Kindly address the alleged slavery & Racism Kenyan employees are suffering under the hands of Chinese guys at SGR. Its evil for our people to be mistreated in their own country while you watch," an infuriated user Alex Katiwa responded.
The investigation by Paul Wafula uncovered evidence of how Kenyans were being mistreated, including a revelation that an agreed skills transfer plan was seemingly non-existent.
Fully trained Kenyan drivers, it was disclosed, only took charge of a train for the Nairobi-Mombasa trip during the SGR's launch when President Uhuru Kenyatta was on board.
Among other things, Kenyans are not allowed to sit on the same tables as their Chinese counterparts and vans with even a single Chinese worker on board cannot ferry Kenyan staff home.
Below are some reactions to the meeting from social media:
