The recent controversy over Kenya's debt issue has become a hot topic in domestic media.

According to media reports, if Kenya fails to meet the payment for the loan provided by the Export-Import Bank of China, it will face the possibility of losing control of the Mombasa port, which has been used as collateral for the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

In response, Kenyan President Kenyatta said in a joint interview with Kenyan media in Mombasa on December 28 that reports alleging that Kenya has used Mombasa Port as collateral to reach an SGR payment agreement are totally unfounded and fabricated, and the cooperation between the two sides in the construction and operation of the SGR has been very robust.

When cooperating with African countries including Kenya, Chinese companies and financial institutions always conduct joint and thorough scientific study on the feasibility of the projects and then proceed to determine construction and funding plans and scales to guard against causing debt risks and fiscal burdens for Africa.

President Kenyatta also said that the SGR is running well and the country is ahead of the payment schedule for the loan, and there is no cause of alarm.

In fact, this is not the first time President Kenyatta has publicly expressed his views on the so-called "debt issue."

On October 26, 2018, Kenya Airways made its first direct flight to New York. Before the maiden flight ceremony, Kenyatta conducted an interview with CNN's famous financial reporter and presenter Richard Quest. However, Quest did not mention the maiden flight by Kenya Airways, but kept asking about the so-called "Chinese debt trap."

In response, President Kenyatta calmly responded with confidence and rationality and asked why critics only focused on Chinese loans to Kenya. "Kenya has a very healthy mix of debt from various lenders in addition to China, including the United States, Japan and Germany."

In both interviews, President Kenyatta pointed out that debt itself is not a cause for concern, but using debt to pay for recurrent expenses (such as wages and utilities) is.

However, Kenya's debt was used to pursue development and narrow the infrastructure gap. This is a future-oriented investment that will improve Kenya's business environment, create growth, bring jobs to Kenyan youth and pave the way for industrialization. To pursue such development, Kenyatta said he will continue to go to China and borrow from China and other countries, because loans are necessary for any country wishing to improve its infrastructure.

President Kenyatta's rebuttal of the so-called "debt trap" points to an important fact, which is that countries at the initial stage of industrialization need development funds and loans which are safe, controllable and necessary as long as they are used in areas that promote sustainable growth and benefit the national economy and people's livelihood.

For example, in the past 10 years, the number of people connected to the power grid in Kenya has increased from less than 32 percent to 65 percent of the population.

Moreover, the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, which opened on May 31, 2017, has registered more than 1.3 million arrivals and departures and handled more than 60,000 containers over the past year, creating for Kenya nearly 50,000 jobs and offering training opportunities for more than 5,000 professional and technical workers and operation management personnel.

The Railway has also greatly facilitated the movement of people and goods between Nairobi and Mombasa. It used to take more than 10 hours to transport Cargo between the two places, but now it only takes a little more than 4 hours, reducing logistics costs by more than 40 percent. 

Railway construction has also boosted Kenya's GDP by 1.5 percent to 2 percent, creating businesses along the railway and prompting the development of an entire value chain based on ports.

As for the so-called "Chinese debt trap" rhetoric that some Western media and politicians have been continuously hyped up in recent years, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying responded at a regular press conference on August 31, 2018, that there are complex historical backgrounds and realities for Africa's debt issue.

In essence, the African debt issue is by no means merely an economic and financial issue, but the result of an unfair and unreasonable international economic order. 

In fact, from 2000 to 2016, China's loans only accounted for 1.8 percent of Africa's foreign debts, and most of them are offered to infrastructure.

None of the African countries has once complained about being trapped in a debt crisis because of their cooperation with China. On the contrary, many leaders of African countries have praised China's investment and financing cooperation with them and are looking forward to greater cooperation with China in this respect.

Hua Chunying also asked, “Why the money is sweet 'money pie' when it is offered by the Western countries but a dark 'money trap' when offered by China?” This is utterly illogical. We hope certain Western countries, people and media will frame China's cooperation through a fair and objective lens.