United States military experts have warned that Kenya is at risk of losing its sovereignty to China, as reported by Nation.
Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (ACSS) has expressed concern over the heavy investments made by the Asian economic giant.
ACSS is an institution established under the US Department of Defense and funded by US Congress to study security issues relating to Africa.
An analysis prepared by ACSS Associate, Paul Nantulya, highlighted China's $900 billion One Belt, One Road (OBOR) Initiative, which finances 1,700 infrastructure projects in over 60 countries.
ACSS described the OBOR initiative as "first and foremost a Chinese geopolitical project designed to advance China's grand strategy."
The document paid particular attention to the Standard Gauge Railway financed by China.
The Ksh320 billion Mombasa-Nairobi SGR serves as a “flagship OBOR project” in East Africa and ranks as the biggest investment in Kenya since independence, the analysis noted.
The Pentagon think-thank stated that the strategy aims to establish China as a great power militarily and economically in the next three decades.
The US was also aware that Kenya's heavy indebtedness to China for the railway project, prompted speculation that the port of Mombasa could fall to Chinese control as a result of contingency stipulations in the lending agreement.
“Beijing appears in some cases to have attached more importance to acquiring strategic assets than debt repayment from its partners,” the US think tank commented.
The institution suggested that the solution for Kenya was to review the terms of financing Chinese funded projects and make future agreements public.
