Writer | Climber | Mother of Dragons | Kas Ka Gan

This headline by The Standard is not just misleading, it is a deliberate distortion of facts to fit a familiar anti-state narrative. You cannot compare Sh693 million per kilometre from earlier SGR phases with up to Sh1.75 billion per kilometre for the Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba extension and pretend it is the same project. It is not. The first figure comes from Mombasa-Nairobi and Nairobi-Naivasha, built largely on flatter terrain, under concessional financing, and with limited auxiliary infrastructure. The extension, on the other hand, is a far more complex corridor, cutting through escarpments, valleys, and unstable ground across western Kenya, requiring extensive bridges (79 major railway bridges, with a combined length of about 42-43 km), tunnels (8 tunnels, total length 14.26 km) viaducts, culverts (460 culverts) and heavy engineering works. More importantly, the higher figure being sensationalised is not just the railway line. It is a full corridor investment that include land compensation, stations (28 stations), inland depots, signalling systems, and integration with Kisumu Port and regional logistics. That is why the total project cost is projected at about Sh500-650 billion, a comprehensive infrastructure ecosystem, not just tracks on the ground. Then there are the economic realities The Standard conveniently ignores. Since the first SGR phase, - The Kenyan shilling has depreciated significantly - Global construction costs (steel, fuel, labour) have risen sharply - Financing has shifted from purely concessional loans to blended and commercial structures, which include interest and risk costs All these factors naturally push up the per-kilometre figure. That is basic infrastructure economics and not necessarily a scandal. What we are seeing here is a classic case of false equivalence of taking two different phases, with different terrain, scope, and financing, and forcing a comparison to manufacture outrage. This is why The Standard has built a reputation for being consistently and notoriously anti-state in its framing, prioritising shock headlines over honest context. They opposed the SGR before it was built. They questioned it during construction. Today, they ignore its impact on freight efficiency and regional trade, only to recycle the same skepticism dressed as 'new revelations.' Facts matter. Context matters. And Kenyans deserve better than headlines designed to mislead rather than inform.

Chapati zinatokea maridadi ajabu. Nashangaa juu sijapika chapo in so long.

This business of making parents run at their kids' sports days ka...

What is extremely unhygienic but everyone seems to do it anyway???

Welcome to DCP Party Senator Millicent Omanga, Mama Miradi. Our party stands with the people; we listen to them every step of the way and this is the home for people-oriented leadership. We recognize and affirm every citizen of Kenya and we leave no Kenyan behind.

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These people went into the village, cut down trees, and built these ugly, unnecessary monstrosities, and for whom exactly? What an eyesore in the middle of nowhere! Surely!!!! Hii ni nini???

These people went into the village, cut down trees, and built these ugly, unnecessary monstrosities, and for whom exactly? What an eyesore in the middle of nowhere! Surely!!!! Hii ni nini???

These people went into the village, cut down trees, and built these ugly, unnecessary monstrosities, and for whom exactly? What an eyesore in the middle of nowhere! Surely!!!! Hii ni nini???

These people went into the village, cut down trees, and built these ugly, unnecessary monstrosities, and for whom exactly? What an eyesore in the middle of nowhere! Surely!!!! Hii ni nini???