Mixed fortunes for SGR’s new millionaires

It is a scenario reminiscent of the classic short story, The Winner, by Barbara Kimenye, where a poor old man almost goes crazy after winning the lottery.

From Macknnon Road and Taru to Maungu and Voi in Taita Taveta County, all sorts of businesses have begun to boom as property owners along the site of the standard gauge rail project receive compensation. However, many of the new millionaires are spending huge sums of money on debauchery, not investment.

In these trading outposts, businesses, particularly guest houses and bars, are doing booming business, with commercial sex workers lining the streets for a share of the billions that have been disbursed.

A businessman in Voi who runs a night club and guest house told Business Beat that customer numbers have swelled, as beneficiaries of the project go out of their way to treat their friends to drinks and nyama choma.

A miraa kiosk owner said he had received a Sh30,000 deposit to supply another of the beneficiaries with the mild stimulant.

Another beneficiary, who only identified himself as Dan, said he has already hired casual workers to demolish his house in the outskirts of Voi town after receiving his compensation of Sh27 million.

“I’m staying in a hotel in town as I figure out where to buy my next house,” he said.

“I’m paying Sh10,000 a day for full-board services.”

Rental premises

The Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), the project’s implementing agency, said it has disbursed about Sh3 billion for the SGR project, and has reached agreements to acquire 85 per cent of the land required.

KRC is expected to conclude acquisition of the remaining 15 per cent in the coming weeks, with the Government expecting to pay out Sh10 billion in total for land.

But there are those dissatisfied with the compensation.

Mswambeni village resident Maria Lulu, 45, has to move to rental premises after receiving compensation of Sh500,000. She is among squatters who have been living on a 140-acre property that belonged to a shoe factory.

Ms Lulu has only been compensated for her two-room, semi-permanent structure since the land does not belong to her.

A similarly disturbed resident of this sleepy village is the elderly Asha Abdalla, who said she is expecting Sh1 million in compensation before she demolishes her six-room house.

Ms Abdalla, who cannot remember her age, said she will use the money to complete a house she is constructing on a different plot, though she feels the compensation is not commensurate with the value of her house.

Equally unhappy is a businessman at the Kasarani outpost of Voi township, Joseph Maina. He said the railway project had taken up a considerable part of his plot in Majengo village, and the compensation promised was too little.

“I have disputed the Sh200,000 the Government wants to give me, as I feel I should get at least Sh500,000 since I can no longer undertake the development I had planned on my plot,” said Mr Maina.

Advisory services

The windfall has led to concern over how the money is being utilised, with calls for the Government to offer beneficiaries financial training before releasing the funds.

A manager at a bank in Voi said he had been turning away beneficiaries planning to withdraw huge amounts of cash without a development plan.

“The compensation money is like retirement benefits and should be used wisely, as the repercussions of misuse can be quite dire,” he said, asking not to be named as he is not authorised by his employer to speak to the Press.

“We recently turned away a beneficiary who came to withdraw Sh1.5 million in cash, as he did not have an alternative piece of land to build a house that he claimed to be putting up.”

The official added that the bank was offering business advisory services for those who wanted to spend their dues wisely.

During celebrations to mark Jamhuri Day in Voi last week, Deputy County Commissioner Khamasi Shivogho advised those who had been compensated for losing their property to the railway project to put their money to good use.

“Beneficiaries of the railway project funds should consult with their immediate family to see how best they can use the money so that they do not have regrets in the future,” he said.

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