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ABSTRACT
Through investigating Kenya’s newly launched Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project, this article explores the impact of clientelism on mega-infrastructure projects. This research traces the initiation and implementation of this Chinese-financed and -constructed railway in Kenya, based on over 100 interviews and triangulated with media and policy reports on SGR. We argue that clientelism had mixed effects on holding project management and the government accountable, conditional on the inclusiveness of the patron–client network. In areas where local people and businesses were included in the patronage system, for instance as constituents or trade union members, the patron–client networks held the project management accountable. The patronage system was conducive to corruption and oligopoly when the system only included elites and excluded citizens/businesses. In most situations we found that China has played a less influential role in the politics around the construction management than is generally assumed. This paper provides new evidence to the debate around clientelism and development in Kenya, and the conditions when patronage systems work for and against accountability. Moreover, this research advances the ‘African agency’ position in Sino-African relations literature by showing not only whether but also how Kenyan actors exercise their agency in interaction with Chinese counterparts.
Acknowledgements
This paper builds on a working paper (Wissenbach and Wang Citation2017) supported by China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS-CARI).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author. The views of Uwe Wissenbach do not represent institutions he is affiliated with.
Notes
1 See Erdmann and Engel (Citation2007) for a critical review of some of these concepts.
2 The 2015 fieldwork was jointly conducted by Yuan Wang and Uwe Wissenbach; the 2017 and 2019 fieldwork was done by Yuan Wang.
3 According to the The East African (Senelwa Citation2015) p. 34: ‘Transport costs in East Africa can account for up to 30 to 50% of export value and up to 75% for landlocked countries. Delays add additional costs of $400 to $500 per trip for freight forwarders crossing borders.’
4 Confirmed by interview in Nairobi, August 2019
5 Interview in Nairobi, August 2019.
6 Interview in Nairobi, August 2019.
7 The SGR development storyline was based on an interview in Nairobi, August 2019
8 According to IPSOS analyst Tom Wolf, in conversation with Uwe Wissenbach on 6 April 2016.
9 These costs are higher relative to other railway lines in Ethiopia, for instance. See BBC 2017.
10 Interview in Nairobi, August 2019.
11 Interview in Nairobi, August 2019.
12 Interview with Kevit Desai, Chairman of RMPCC, July 2015.
13 Interview in Nairobi, July 2019.
14 Interview in Nairobi, July 2019.
15 Interview in Nairobi, August 2019.
16 Interview in Nairobi, August 2019
17 Interview in Mombasa, August 2015
18 Figures naturally fluctuate in different construction phases.
19 Interview in Emali, August 2015.
20 Interview in Nairobi, 2019.
21 Interview in Nairobi, August 2019.
22 Interview in Nairobi, 2019.
23 Interview in Nairobi, 2019.
24 Interview in Nairobi, 2019.
25 Interview with Atanas Maina in Nairobi on 13 August 2019.