President William Ruto with James Cleverly, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and other officials during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Railway City Project in Nairobi on December 7, 2022.
Kenya has been blocked from deporting, arresting or intimidating employees of a Chinese contractor, whose two officials were expelled as they challenged the award of a Sh30 billion tender for the construction of Railway City to a business rival.
Last Wednesday, the High Court in Kisumu issued the orders after China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) sued Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, Immigration Services Director-General Evelyn Cheluget, Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja, and Attorney-General
Attorney-General Dorcas Oduor.
In its petition, CCECC argued that two of its workers were deported on March 13 in a bid to pressure the firm to drop its appeal against the outcome of the Sh30 billion procurement process by the Kenya Railways Corporation.
CCECC, which had the lowest bid at Sh22.9 billion, has persistently challenged the award of the tender to China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which bid Sh7 billion higher.
CCECC says in court papers its officials are being harassed to force the firm to drop the quest for the tender, clearing the way for the award of the contract to CRBC, which bid Sh29.9 billion.
“That a temporary injunction is hereby issued restraining the Respondents by themselves, agents, departments, and/or persons acting under their authority from harassing, intimidating, threatening, detaining, mistreating, and/or deporting the Petitioners, until further orders of this court. THAT the application, the petition, and all other court processes be served upon the Respondents by close of business on 19th March, 2026,” the orders by the Kisumu court read in part.
The Railway City project, partly funded by the UK government, will see the construction of office blocks, malls and a light industrial hub on 13 acres of land owned by Kenya Railways in the Nairobi central business district.
The contractor will also lay new railway lines and upgrade existing ones across the city, with that infrastructure integrating into the larger Nairobi city transport system and providing interconnectivity to the planned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines.
The project is expected to help decongest the city centre.
The UK government has pledged Sh11.9 billion, or 39 per cent of the project cost, with Kenya expected to raise the balance.
CCECC, alongside its workers Wang Xu, Li Wei, Li Fangyi, and Zhang Hongze, has sued Kenyan government officials.
The High Court last Friday ordered the plaintiffs to serve the four respondents with the court papers.
Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja.
At the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB), CCECC has twice challenged Kenya Railways’ decision to award the multibillion-shilling deal, which is partly funded by the UK government, to China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).
Its first challenge saw Kenya Railways ordered to disqualify CRBC and evaluate other bidders. Kenya Railways again, on February 16, declared CRBC the best bidder, triggering the second appeal against its decision.
CRBC, on its part, filed a case at the High Court in Nairobi, arguing that the second appeal is an abuse of legal processes and challenging the PPARB’s authority to determine it.
On March 11, the High Court in Nairobi blocked the PPARB from proceeding to hear or determine the second PPARB appeal filed by CCECC and a consortium of China Overseas Engineering Group Company Ltd and China Railway Group Ltd.
The petition reveals a rivalry with a tinge of irony – two firms owned by the Chinese government going at each other hammer and tongs in the cutthroat business that is Kenya’s public procurement sector.
Two days after the High Court suspended the PPARB proceedings, Kenya’s security agencies launched an operation so swift, the kind usually reserved for enemies posing a direct threat to national security, with multiple targets spread between Nairobi and Kisumu.
But the targets were not gun-wielding thugs or narcotics kingpins, at least not according to court papers filed at the Kisumu High Court.
They were CCECC engineers, Li Fangyi and Zhang Hongze.
Li Fangyi, a project manager at CCECC, was taken first.
At around 2pm on March 13, two vehicles stopped at CCECC’s camp along the Kisian-Usenge road in Kisumu.
President William Ruto with James Cleverly, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Cabinet Ministers Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen (Transport and Infrastructures) Alfred Mutua (Foreign Affairs) Moses Kuria (Trade) Governor Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi) and other Government Officials during the Ground-breaking ceremony for the Railway City Project, Nairobi.
CCECC is the firm building the Sh2 billion Dhogoye bridge, a gateway connecting Usenge in Kisumu County to Budalang’i in Busia County. The Chinese firm’s campsite, where Mr Fangyi and his colleagues were based, is along the Kisian-Usenge road.
Several individuals disembarked from the vehicles and identified themselves as police officers looking for Mr Fangyi.
The officers forcefully took Mr Fangyi and transported him to Nairobi.
At around 10.30pm, another group of officers stormed into CCECC’s compound along Riverside Drive in the affluent Lavington neighbourhood, looking for Zhang Hongze. This group, Mr Hongze’s lawyers say in court papers, did not identify themselves. They left with their target, nonetheless.
Mr Hongze and Mr Fangyi were reunited at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), this time as deportees. They were bundled into Kenya Airways flight KQ886, a direct flight to Guangzhou, China.
The flight left Nairobi at 10 minutes past midnight, landing in China nearly 11 hours later.
Back in Nairobi, Li Wei, a CCECC Director, was breathing a sigh of relief as he managed to leave the Riverside Drive complex that hosts his employer’s office and staff residence amid the fracas that saw Mr Hongze arrested. His passport was, however, seized.
The five plaintiffs now argue that the deportation of Mr Hongze and Mr Fangyi is a malicious move fueled by business rivalry between the two Chinese government-owned firms, CCECC and CRBC.
On January 26, the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) nullified the Kenya Railways Corporation’s decision to declare CRBC the best bidder for the billion-shilling Railway City tender.
CRBC bid Sh29.9 billion. CCECC had the lowest bid at Sh22.9 billion, while a consortium of China Overseas Engineering Group Company Ltd and China Railway Group Ltd had the highest quote at Sh32.5 billion.
Kenya Railways’ tender committee awarded CRBC the highest score in technical evaluation, which informed the decision.
But CCECC and the consortium of China Overseas Engineering Group Company Ltd and China Railway Group Ltd challenged the decision at the PPARB.
The appellants argued that CRBC had placed two flash disks containing its technical and financial evaluations in the same envelope, against the procurement rules earlier set by Kenya Railways.
President William Ruto shakes hands with UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly at the launch of the Nairobi Railway City project yesterday. With them are Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (left), Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua (centre), Governor Johnson Sakaja (right) and other officials.
The PPARB, in its judgment, held that CRBC should have been disqualified from the process and directed Kenya Railways to proceed with evaluating other bids that met the required standards.
But on February 16, Kenya Railways still declared CRBC the best bidder.
CCECC and the consortium once again challenged the Kenya Railways decision.
With the PPARB judgment pending, the security agencies struck and deported CCECC officials.
“The Petitioners state that the harassment, arrests and deportations are linked to the tender process and the applications before the PPARB and are intended to intimidate them for challenging and/or filing the applications,” CCECC says in court papers.
“The 1st Petitioner’s (CCECC) presence in Kenya has never been against national interest. The harassment and deportation and/or threats of deportation are motivated by business rivalry with its competitors, who conspired with the respondents to harass, intimidate, and deport its agents so that they can benefit from the expulsions,” the firm adds.
The Kisumu High Court will mention the petition challenging deportations on March 23, when government lawyers are expected to appear to defend their clients.
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