Last week's signing of Sh350 billion deals for development projects between Kenya and Japan is a continuation of a genuine partnership that goes back to the days of President Jomo Kenyatta. I say genuine because it was always development co-operation based on mutual respect and understanding with no geopolitical strings attached. Japan has indeed walked with Kenya through good and challenging times.
Japanese Infrastructure projects have been mostly funded on easy concessionary terms, and corruption has hardly ever featured in them. Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is a household name in nearly all aspects of socioeconomic (education, agriculture, health ) development, mostly in the form of bilateral grants.
Most of Japanese infrastructure projects have been in the coast, the earliest I recall being the Nyali Bridge and the “new” Mombasa Airport, both constructed in early 1970s. These were followed by a series of new bridges north of Mombasa all the way to Sabaki bridge near Malindi.
Also undertaken are the Mombasa Port capacity expansion, construction of Dongo Kundu Bridge and now the planned Gate Bridge across Likoni channel. In the new package we have renewable (geothermal, wind and solar) power projects in Rift Valley, Meru and Isiolo.
For those of us who grew up before independence we fondly remember the coming of affordable Japanese transistor radios which significantly empowered public information, entertainment, and education. There was also the entry of “non-creasing” Japanese synthetic polyester fabrics which rapidly diminished woolen and cotton fabrics imports from UK and India. This was followed by entry of Toyota and Datsun cars which rapidly overtook European models.
Having risen from the ashes of World War II, Japan was going through unprecedented technological renaissance especially in the niche areas of electronics, petrochemicals and automobiles to become a major economic giant as it rose to become number two global economic leader, a position it lost to China in the 2010s. All along Japan remained apolitical, avoiding the Cold War mess, making Japan quite appealing to newly independent countries like Kenya.
Japanese development cooperation significantly differs from Chinese participation, which is essentially based on economic self-interest, a model that sees China maximise benefit at the expense of host countries.
Chinese development cooperation agencies in the likeness of JICA, USAID and DFID are non-existent, as these do not fit in Chinese global economic model. However, of late China is upping diplomatic efforts to improve its image in the developing world, especially as the bipolar “cold war” resurges.
