A vicious battle for the heart and soul of Kenya has been fully enjoined by China and the US. In May 2024, President William Ruto made a state visit to the US where he signed off on a host of deals. The Kenyans met top level American government officials and heads of America’s most iconic corporations. His was the first state visit to US by an African President since 2008.

Not to be outdone, China hosted a state visit by President Ruto in April 2025. He was the first African president to do so since the Africa China Co-operation Forum in Beijing in 2024. The Kenyans met top Chinese government officials, as well as heads of top corporations. Again, a host of deals for Kenya were signed.

At the heart of the deals signed with China and the US are two expressways. These are the signature projects for both camps. The US is building the Nairobi- Mombasa expressway dubbed Usahihi, while China is building the Rironi-Nakuru-Mau Summit-Malaba expressway. Both these projects are Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), and will be paid for through tolling.

These two expressways define perfectly the mindsets and attitudes towards African development by these two hegemonic powers.

The US style is lazy, with no sense of urgency, always looking for the smallest excuse to bolt out. That is why US engineering firm, Bechtel Engineering, sat on this expressway for four years of doing nothing, looked for an excuse, then bolted. A new US firm, Everstrong Capital LLC, took over and signed up for the project during the US state visit by President Ruto.

After babysitting the project for a year now, Everstrong announced that construction will start sometime in the first quarter of 2026, and take anything between three to four years.

In contrast, the Rironi-Malaba highway was signed with China last month, and has well defined starting and ending timelines – from June 2025 to June 2027. It is worth noting that this expressway was awarded to a French consortium to build it in 2020. The deal fell through after that group babysat the deal for five years and made zero progress towards its construction.

By the time Everstrong finishes construction of the Nairobi-Mombasa expressway in 2029 or thereabouts, China will not only have completed their expressway, but will also have built the proposed new Nithi bridge, the standard gauge railway (SGR) extension to Malaba, and dualling of several bypasses in Nairobi and Eldoret.

It is this frustration with the West’s clear reluctance to assist Africa establish critical infrastructure that will catapult their economies into being internationally competitive that has elevated China into being so dominant an economic power on the continent.

A tale of two expressways. The narrative driving an Africa hungry for critical infrastructure into China’s embrace. China’s no chills or frills approach has proved much more impactful in much shorter time than the West’s overly pondering and pussyfooting approach which adds zero value to the process.

The two expressways are the iconic manifestation of the centrality of Kenya in the battle for the soul of Africa by US and China. Kenya is at the epicentre of this battle.

gathukara@gmail.com