Deputy President William Ruto will make public contract details of mega projects by the Chinese such as the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and the Nairobi Express Way–all pet projects of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration — should he win the presidential poll on August 9.
Mr Ruto told Reuters News Agency in an interview at his official residency that he would release the details of the contracts if elected president.
President Kenyatta’s administration has in the past opposed pleas to make public SGR contracts.
The High Court in Mombasa in May ordered the government to provide two activists with agreements relating to the construction of the Sh424 billion SGR line project.
Transport PS Joseph Njoroge said in court documents that agreements entered between the government and Chinese contractors over the construction of Sh450 billion SGR have non-disclosure clauses.
The government has also argued in court that the move would endanger national security and injure foreign relations between the states that the country has entered into bilateral agreements with and would stifle the successful implementation of the National Transport Policy.
Kenya is obligated to honour repayment of the Sh327 billion it borrowed for the project from the Exim Bank of China in May 2014 and started repaying last year after the expiry of the five-year grace period.
