Former Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo asked president Uhuru Kenyatta to consult Mwai Kibaki on the current Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) cargo directive.
During a live televised interview on Thursday, September 26, Midiwo said that former president Mwai Kibaki had a lot to offer the government, he says was losing direction and hurting businesses in Mombasa and Kisumu.
"Why can't they consult Mzee Kibaki and see how it is supposed to be done intelligently?" Midiwo asked referring to the SGR cargo directive that required cargo transporters to abandon cheaper trucks for the SGR.
"I was there when Kibaki worked on our economy and left us in a very good place," he disclosed.
Midiwo reiterated claims by Coast leaders that the SGR was destroying businesses at the Mombasa port with the discharge of cargo expected to be in Naivasha.
"The second and third largest towns in Kenya are dead," he confirmed. He explained the effect SGR was having on small businesses in these major towns.
Midiwo also questioned the secrecy surrounding the SGR claiming that it had to be riddled with corruption where only a handful of government insiders were benefitting.
"The Port of Mombasa has been there since the railway, show me any Mijikenda who has been rich from jobs provided," Midiwo added.
He affirmed that there was no feasibility done when the SGR was built as the contractors were selling government land to the government.
Fauz Khalid, a businessman speaking exclusively to Kenyans.co.ke said the government was forcing people to use the SGR to transport their cargo.
"They are saying in Parliament that no one is being forced, but in reality when you are found with cargo in Mariakani you are stopped," he explained.
Khalid insisted that the supposed negative effects of the SGR on the coastal economy were being felt by all traders.
