The flow of commodities from China and Russia has been severely disrupted in Mombasa, East Africa’s biggest economic port. This has ramifications across the area and has become an issue in Kenya’s presidential election.
Kenya’s second-largest metropolis is beset by a slew of problems. Since 2020, when the virus’s reappearance in China, notably in the economic center Shanghai, started to impede trade flows, the port town has been recuperating from significant disruption caused by Covid-19.
East African merchants have lost their primary import source, and the Shippers Council of Eastern Africa reported poor trade volumes, notably in agricultural items and cotton produced from Uganda.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which started in February and was met with harsh sanctions, has also disrupted wheat supplies from both nations throughout the area.
This was a severe setback since, before to the conflict, Ukrainian and Russian wheat accounted for almost all of Somalia’s wheat imports, as well as 60 percent in Rwanda and Tanzania and 40 percent in Kenya.
According to merchants contacted by Africa Intelligence, Kenya has been forced to purchase Ukrainian wheat from Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina, further complicating typical trading lines.
This is causing havoc in the trucking industry, which is represented by the Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (Kifwa), which is dealing with a shortage of accessible containers in Mombasa as well as increasing fuel costs.
The gasoline crisis, which is also impacting other East African nations such as Burundi, has become political in Kenya. The completion in November of the demolition of the country’s oldest pipeline between Mombasa and Nairobi has disrupted the supply of petroleum between the two cities, with trucks filling the void.
The gasoline crisis prompted Jean-Christian Bergeron, national manager of Kenya’s largest fuel distributor Rubis Energie, to relocate to France in mid-April. A week later, the Kenyan government joyfully announced the arrival of seven oil freighters in Mombasa.
However, the nation continued to face localized shortages late last month, and it launched talks with the UAE with the goal of obtaining a third of its petroleum requirements there.
In this scenario, Mombasa is expected to play a significant role in Kenya’s national elections in August. Raila Odinga, the contender endorsed by outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, has vowed to relocate the whole port administration back to Mombasa within three months of his win. It had been largely transferred to Naivasha, in the country’s center, where cargo containers are delivered by rail.
During his decades of resistance, Odinga has long been a popular figure on the coast.
He is now attempting to demonstrate that he is committed to championing his erstwhile base, which has steadily shifted closer to his primary challenger, Deputy President William Ruto.
Last month, Odinga tried to have MP Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir nominated as a candidate for Mombasa governor on behalf of his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Nassir was finally picked over his challenger Suleiman Shahbal, who has business community backing.
Kenyatta intervened to discourage Shahbal from running, but the latter’s supporters continue to oppose the nomination process.
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