Come clean on UAE's Sh28 billion loan, Raila tells Uhuru over port tender award

ODM leader Raila Odinga on Sunday asked the Jubilee administration to come clean on allegations that they received a Sh28 billion bribe from the United Arab Emirates.

He said this was for the government to accept the application by a UAE firm which sought to take over management of the KPA second container terminal.

He told journalists in Mombasa that the government of United Arab Emirates paid the bribe in form of a loan.

This was to allow Dubai Port World, which Raila said was defeated by other 12 international port operators, manage the said terminal.

He said a Chinese consortium - PSA International, which had partnered with a local group - Multiple Hauliers, won the tender.

Raila said the money was given on condition that the UAE government will appoint an agent to operate, manage, and undertake the terminal's expansion.

On October 26 last year, the government signed a bilateral agreement with the UAE where the latter agreed to lend the state Sh28 billion.

The loan, which Raila says was a bribe, was to be used in enhancing operational and business efficiencies of the second container terminal.

The loan was also to be used to the development of Kipevu oil terminal.

But Raila questioned the modalities of allowing DP World, an agent of UAE government, to manage the terming, despite the entity being flood during the tender process.

"It appears the UAE firm did not win but purchased the management of our second container terminal at a cost of 275 million dollars," he said.

Raila alleged President Uhuru Kenyatta has a direct interest in the management of container terminal.

He said the 12 international port operators that presented their bids were from countries with mega port operations compared to UAE.

The ODM leader said firms from China, Japan, Singapore, and Netherlands were among those short-changed in the tender award.

"Can Uhuru prove to Kenyans that the so-called loan from the UAE was not a bribe to sway the contract in favor of Dubai?" he asked.

He added: "What was the purpose of the tender when the job ended up being given to the defeated bidder?"

Raila said the government was looking for reasons to privatise the SCT thus accepting the 'fuzzy' loan.

"Loans are usually sought for specific projects. This particular one appears to be looking around for something to finance as long as the port is delivered," he said.

"Can the President explain whether Kenya sought a loan from the UAE and what we needed the same for," he said.

In September, parliament approved a Sh27.3 billion loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency for the second phase of the SCT's construction.

Uhuru commissioned the first phase of the mega project in the same month that JICA gave the loan.

The management of the SCT is being contested in court. KPA is currently running the facility.

However, Raila said he is pessimistic about the court process adding that the decision might not influence anything.

The NASA co-principal said Japan funded the SCT and ought to have been allowed to run it. He said it is unexplainable how Japan became a “bad bidder”.

He asked Uhuru to explain the implication of 'the cold-blooded breach of trusts' and whether Japan lost because it failed to pay bribes.

August 2015, JICA chief representative, Hideo Uguchi in a letter to National Treasury, protested the selection of an agent to manage SCT, saying this could affect its aid to Kenya.

Deputy president William Ruto said the state has used billions in the facility and does not wish to privatise it.

Read: Uhuru commissions Sh30 billion container terminal at Mombasa port

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