South Sudan forces Ruto to use Joho firm in the SGR contract
South Sudan forces President Ruto to use a firm associated with the family of the former Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho in the SGR contract
South Sudan forces President Ruto to use a firm associated with the family of the former Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho in the SGR contract.
The South Sudanese government compelled President William Ruto’s administration to back a company connected to the family of former Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho to handle freight from the Mombasa port traveling via the standard gauge railway to the neighboring nation.
Juba compelled Kenya to back the lucrative agreement that saw Autoport Freight Terminals Limited handle all South Sudan imports at its Nairobi Freight Terminal (NFT).
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This is a part of the agreement that saw Kenya overturn an order from September restricting the clearance of cargo and related operations to the Port of Mombasa.
A communique from the ministry has informed Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Kenya Railways that Autoport Freight Terminals Limited will continue to be the sole handler of South Sudan cargo.
Associated with the Joho family, Autoport was formerly a target of the government due to suspicions of tax cheating.
The owner of the company is Abu Joho, the elder brother of the former governor, and the South Sudan contract came to light after the Supreme Court affirmed Dr. Ruto’s victory over Raila Odinga in the presidential election on August 9.
Autoport had won the South Sudan contract on the strength of its deal with Kenya Railways offered it a terminal at the Nairobi Inland Container Depot, which is connected to the SGR and allowed the easy evacuation of cargo from the Mombasa port.
Hassan Joho supported veteran opposition politician, Mr. Odinga, in the August 9 election, raising fears that the new administration would be bent on reviewing the rail terminal deal.
On September 13, after being sworn in as the fifth President of Kenya, Dr. Ruto issued an executive order directing that all clearance of cargo and attendant operations revert to the Port of Mombasa.
But South Sudan was uncomfortable with the directive and wanted an arrangement where their traders would be free to clear imported goods at any of the two dry ports—Nairobi and Naivasha.
Dr. Ruto was forced to reverse the directive early this month following a visit to Juba as Nairobi moves to ensure South Sudan retains the Port of Mombasa as its main point for transshipment cargo.
Should it have failed to broker a deal, South Sudan had threatened to transfer business to the Djibouti route, in what would have denied Kenya revenue on 1.1 million tonnes of cargo that the facility handles annually.
Mombasa has been the main route for all consignments destined for the landlocked country and South Sudan now says Port of Djibouti is shorter.
The deal comes as a boost to the standard gauge railway, which is likely to benefit from the move should Juba opt to clear its goods in any of the ICDs.
Juba insisted that Autoport be part of the deal inked between Dr. Ruto and South Sudan President Salva Kiir.
In 2021, Autoport took over operations of a taxpayer-funded inland cargo terminal in Nairobi.
It received a near-exclusive right to use of the Nairobi Freight Terminals (NFT), strategically located near the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) terminal in Syokimau.
Autoports convinced the KRC board of guaranteed business volumes promising to move 1.6 million tonnes (or 24,615 wagons) annually.
This deal prompted the South Sudan government early this year to offer Autoport the contract to handle all South Sudan imports at the NFT.
Different companies had been handling South Sudan cargo, but there were complaints of inefficiency.
That made the government in South Sudan change agents and tapped NFT as its only cargo handler.
The deal meant that cargo that passes through the port of Mombasa destined for South Sudan will be cleared in Nairobi, thus increasing volumes to be ferried on the SGR.
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