Show Us the Contracts Tracker

Last updated: 12 Nov 2020

On 16 December 2019, Okoa Momabsa filed an Access to Information (ATI) request with the Government of Kenya, seeking the release of agreements, contracts and other documents relating to the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and Container Terminal 2 (CT2) at the Port of Mombasa.

The US$3.6 billion SGR is the most expensive infrastructure project in Kenya’s history, and was financed mostly via loans through the Export-Import Bank of China. Despite the enormous cost, agreements related to the project’s financing have never been made public. President Uhuru Kenyatta promised to release the contracts in 2018, but has yet to follow through.

Our request is simple: We want the government to #ShowUsTheContracts, as is our right under Kenya’s constitution. Our ATI request demanded these documents from five separate government entities: 

• The Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure Housing, Urban Development and Public Works;
• The Managing Director of Kenya Ports Authority;
• The Managing Director of Kenya Railways;
• The Director General of Kenya National Bureau of Statistics; and
• The Registrar General.

Our request was also forwarded to the Office of the Attorney General after Kenya Railways claimed that this office was the official custodian for the documents we seek. 

This page tracks the Government’s responses to our ATI request. To date, we have not received any substantive information responsive to our request. All government responses have been evasive, focusing on why they cannot release the documents.   

Note: a number of the responses below are from the Office of the Ombudsman, which is the government agency tasked with ensuring enforcement of the Access to Information Act. These letters were sent to the government agencies at issue, demanding release of the documents. These have mostly been ignored.