Infrastructural Development and Neo-Colonialism in Africa: The Case of the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya

Abstract

Abstract The paper argues that funding and development of mega projects in Africa is the new way through which neo-colonialism is manifesting itself. Development partners are increasingly using infrastructural development aid as the means to continue exploiting and dominating Africa’s political economy. Using the Chinese funded Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya as a case study, the paper confirms that to some extent infrastructural development projects are replicating colonial structures. The role of foreign funding, multinational corporations, and co-option of elites provides neo-colonial anxieties. However, through sensitivity to Africa’s mounting external debt, and its policy on shared prosperity, China demonstrates that not all its activities on the continent have neo-colonial characteristics. It renegotiates loan repayment, converts loans to grants, and withholds loans to assessed recipient’s abilities to repay. The concept of neo-colonialism provides a framework through which to analyze externally funded development projects in Africa. The study analyzed secondary sources of data.