Kenyan Government Conned, China ships empty container to parliament

File photo of an empty container. PHOTO | OCEAN FREIGHT

The government of Kenya was shocked on Tuesday after an transporting an empty container from the Chinese government expected to have goods for the statehouse and the parliament..

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is probing circumstances under which a container delivering electronic equipment to Parliament from China arrived in Nairobi empty.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Michael Sialai confirmed that the container tagged ‘diplomatic goods’ was delivered on Tuesday July 30, 2019 as expected but after the seals were opened, it was found to be empty.

The goods listed as laptops and computer projectors were a donation from the National People’s Congress of China.

"Indeed a container arrived at Parliament Square on July 30, 2019, whence I appointed some officers from the National Assembly to confirm the delivery as per the correspondence from the consignee (Chinese Embassy),” reads the statement by Mr. Sialai.

"Upon opening of the container seals, the container was confirmed to have been empty. Both the agent and our officers brought this matter to my attention and I made a decision that the DCI officers attached to the Parliament Road Police Station be informed of this development, which was done promptly.”

" While we remain grateful to our guest from the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Embassy in Nairobi for the planned donation, the National Assembly wishes to clarify that the matter is now in the hands of the consignee and their logistics partner,” added Sialai.

Bollore logistics are expected to explain what happened until the container reached Parliament empty. The clearing and forwarding agent did not indicate or know the container was empty from the port of Mombasa to Embakasi container terminal to the Parliament.