Kenya will have to watch from the sidelines as Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu and her Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni signed the much-awaited Ksh 400 billion deal.
The deal to build Uganda’s oil pipeline through Tanzania instead of Kenya was signed on Sunday, March 11 during President Suluhu’s maiden trip to Uganda as head of state.
Kenya lost out on the deal after Uganda raised concerns about the feasibility of the pipeline going through Kenya.
Uganda was concerned that if the pipeline was built through Lokichar to the Lamu Port, the construction would be delayed by land settlement cases.
Another area of concern was the high cost of land in Kenya, and more so the practice of hiking the value of land targeted for infrastructure projects.
For years, land brokers and speculators exploited loopholes in regulations to make a killing by purchasing the land in advance and sell it off to the government at exorbitant rates.
In the process, many disputes arise and construction is delayed for months and sometimes years.
This is not the only project in which Uganda has termed engagement with Kenya as unfavourable, eventually pushing Kenya’s neighbour to seek alternatives.
The plan to extend the SGR from Naivasha to Uganda was also shelved over feasibility concerns.
In rejecting Kenya’s Ksh 368 billion loan application to extend the SGR from Kenya to Kisumu and finally Kampala, China raised concerns about the viability of the project.
