CS Matiang’i calms locals on port takeover storm

Port workers watch as the one millionth container was being off-loaded from the MV Lilley Schulte at the Port of Mombasa on December 31, 2014. [File, Standard]

The planned privatisation of the Sh27 billion second container terminal in Mombasa seems to be gaining momentum as some leaders now say they are open to a government deal.

Some politicians and a section of the Dock Workers Union (DWU), led by General Secretary Simon Sang, maintain their resistance to the looming takeover of the terminal by Kenya National Shipping Line (KNSL).

However, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and other previous critics of the move appear to have softened their stance, saying Coast leaders are ready to negotiate a deal with the state.

“We are ready for dialogue if we are told exactly what the deal entails,” Joho said. 

On Wednesday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i promised to organise a meeting with the leaders to discuss development projects, including the matter of the port terminal.

Dr Matiang’i was speaking at the Eid baraza at Treasury Square in Mombasa in the company of Governor Joho and a number of Coast elected leaders who raised the issue of the terminal.

“I will come back in a week’s time and have a meeting with the Coast leadership on development matters,” Matiang’i said. 

Joho said the Blue Economy Implementation Committee has failed to convince the Coast leadership on why the Section 4 of the Merchant Shipping Act has to be changed to allow KNSL run the terminal.

The governor demanded that the Amendment Bill be subjected to public participation to be conducted in Mombasa, Shimoni and Lamu, which have ports, instead of being rushed in Parliament.

He said Kenyans would get a raw deal if the terminal was handed over to KNSL and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) for free, saying a private operator at the port of Tema in Ghana had to build a terminal from scratch to operate and later transferred it to government.

Back door

“We fully support the blue economy programme and job creation for seafarers. But let them convince us that the takeover of the terminal will benefit us. Let them bring the facts on the table; we are ready for dialogue,” Joho said.

Most critical of the deal are Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir, his Kisauni counterpart Ali Mbogo and Mombasa Senator Mohamed Faki who claim the state is plotting to “sell” the terminal through the back door to MSC, a foreign shipping line.

And with new reports emerging that a firm called Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), a franchise of MSC might be given the port terminal while KNSL would only be required to provide cargo, the MPs say Kenyans could lose a lot in the deal.

TIL is MSC’s firm based in Geneva and it operates port terminals across the world.

An official from the Blue Economy Committee, who did not want to be named, yesterday dismissed the claim that TIL was set to operate the terminal.

“The agreement is for KNSL to run the port terminal and not TIL. TIL is MSC’s arm operating about 75 port terminals but it does not feature in Mombasa’s deal at all,” he said.

In a recent meeting between the Blue Economy team, headed by Chief of Defence Forces Gen Samson Mwathethe, and Coast MPs, government officials said the KNSL/MSC takeover plan would see the latter employ 2,000 seafarers every year up to  56,000 in 15 years. MSC would also assist in transforming the port into a transshipment hub and back the mass training of Kenyan seafarers at Bandari Maritime Academy, the team said.

But Nassir, who chairs the National Assembly Public Investments Committee (PIC), said they would only allow KNSL to run the terminal if it was owned 100 per cent by Kenya, noting that the MSC shareholding has caused concern since Kenyans invested billions of shillings in the facility.

Nassir said MPs’ opposition to the takeover of the terminal was representative of the views of Coast people and that they would not be cowed into blindly supporting the plan.

“I have organised many demonstrations in the past and I cannot be shaken by a recent one by those forcing this deal. MSC made an agreement in 1987 when it acquired shares in KNSL and that cannot be used to run a port terminal,” Nassir said.

Mbogo said the port was the lifeline for Mombasa residents and MPs would not allow it be “privatised through the backdoor”.

“I have been threatened for standing firm against the KNSL/MSC deal because I feel it will not benefit the ordinary residents of the Coast,” Mbogo said.

Last week, Sang said the terminal deal might transfer Sh14.5 billion annual profit made by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) to MSC and cause the loss of up to 4,000 jobs at the port.

He also claimed the partnership between KNSL and MSC would not yield to 200,000 jobs in Kenya as suggested by proponents since the foreign firm has only 28,000 employees globally.