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Even before dust settles on the alleged claims of racism, abuse, harassment, mistreatment, poor working conditions and poor pay for Kenyan Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) workers by Chinese bosses, it has now emerged that the number of foreigners working at the railway is thrice that of Kenyans.
Investigations carried out by the Standard have revealed that the number of Chinese nationals employed at the SGR stands at 4,954 against 1600 Kenyans staffs.
The numbers are sharp contrast with the initial agreement, where the ratio of Chinese to Kenyan workers at the project was supposed to be 1:3.
About 5,000 Chinese workers at the project include 1,100 civil engineers, 200 bridge engineers, 150 Railway engineers, 120 translators,100 accountants, 90 architectural engineers, 85 electrical and mechanical engineers, more than 80 electricians, at least 50 cooks, over 30 administration officers and 15 dietitians among others, according to the Sundy Standard.
Others include highway engineers, welders, surveyors, archivists, carpenters, assistant engineers and asphalt plant experts and operators. The list further include automation engineers, bench workers, decoration engineers as well as business administrators.
There are also doctors, traditional medicine, computer engineers, secretaries, chefs, chemical engineers, cost engineers, crane conductors, welders and interpreters. Hundreds of them are working using tourist visas, while others have applied for work permits.
The government is currently doing a verification exercise to establish the number of foreigners working in the country. Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i said foreigners found to have taken jobs that can be done by Kenyans will be deported.
The revelation of the number of Chinese working at the SGR exposes a glaring failure by the government to protect jobs meant for Kenyans from being taken by expatriates.
Comments
The way I see it, this is the second scruble for Africa which will be followed by Re-colonization. Let us watchthe drama as it unfolds. All this is happening while our elected representatives are chasing an inflated leather in Russia. God help Kenya!!!
Mating'i can you please say something on this unless you have a gag order from the Ikuru? Ruto said a week ago that SGR is not a matatu which could mean Kenyans can only operate matatus. Prezo and DP dead silent on this particular issue since it came out which prompts one to wonder what is in the contract?
How do they allow people with tourist visas to work in Kenya?
I have seen so many chinkos around and along the SGR. Chinkos are worse than jungus when it comes to transparency, hypocrisy and discrimination against the black africans.
Poor Kenyans. The politicians have no concerns for the regular mwananchi. This is about corruption. Back to colonial era once again. Who is looking out for the mwananchi?????? I put the whole blame on the government officials who have the mandate to protect the working man/woman and the country from exploitation. OMG!!! I forgot they only care about making as much money as they can while in the office. This is another layer of corruption. God help us all.
Its unfortunate that the Standards has very many reporters and no editors. If they had editors, one of them would have forced to provide same info on Kenyans working on SGR. How can an investigative reporter has a complete list of all 5000 Chinese employees, and not a similar list for the 1600 Kenyans. One would expect the list on Kenyans to be the easier one to get. And to quote Trump, "fake news".